Legend of The Wind Fish
by TruckerHat
Summary: A teenage Hylian discovers the secret of the Zora. A tale of her growing up, falling in love, and finding out who she really is. Rated just in case. May contain some Ocarina of Time spoilers.
1. Waterfall

**Author's note: I **_**really**_** don't like the name of my Zora OC in this story, so if anybody has any**

**suggestions, I would really appreciate them :) Also, this story doesn't have a lot of action. There's an awful lot of dialogue and a bit of ridiculousness, so if you don't like that, don't read it :)**

Legend of the Wind Fish

Chapter One: Waterfall

Did you ever hear the Ballad of the Wind Fish when you were just a young Hylian? And when

you heard it, did you ever wonder what it was about? You wouldn't know unless you were one of the wind fish. Or one of the few humans who can speak their native tongue.

The wind fish. Most call them the Zora. The ballad recounts the tale of two lovers who could never be, because one of them wasn't human. One of the two called it off to go with their human partner, and the Zora spent the rest of its days utterly miserable.

I am not a Zora.

In fact, I am pretty far from the majestic creatures that roam hidden parts of Hyrule. My name is Emmeline. My father barely gets by on the money he earns selling magic beans, and my mother ran off to join the Gerudo thieves. For a few years, my life was horrible, but then I began to enjoy it.

I could do whatever I wanted. My mother didn't have enough of a moral compass to stop me, and my father was just happy with the rupees I brought home. Because of this, I explored everywhere and had friends in high places. I'd done everything; I'd shopped in the Hylian market, seen live Dodongos atop Death Mountain, played the ocarina in the Kokiri forest, even trained with the Gerudo for a time. I was almost invincible, and could be doubly invisible.

The only two places I couldn't access were Zelda's castle, because nobody could, and wherever the Zoras were, because they couldn't be found. It was annoying, but couldn't be helped.

I'd lived this way for 15 years before anything in my life changed. I was at Hyrule Castle Town, amongst a huge crowd of people, yelling my bids, just trying to get an empty bottle. A flash caught my eye. I turned to see a young boy who couldn't have been older than 12. I wasn't sure what had caught my eye; the fairy next to him or the huge emerald he was carrying.

Or maybe it was because he was dressed like a complete freak. His blonde hair stuck out everywhere, and everything he was wearing was green from head to toe. He sure stood out in this crowd of richly dressed, well-groomed Hylians. Come to think of it, he didn't even look like a Hylian.

"200 RUPEES!!!" I screamed, frustrated. This wasn't worth it at all, but I couldn't go home empty-handed after promising my father a jar for his beans.

I felt a jar being pressed into my hands. Had I won? No... this jar was scratched and dingy, not smooth and sparkly like the one up for bid. Not only that, but there was some sort of bug in it.

I looked around to see the small boy staring at me. "Sorry little boy, I've got enough second-hand stuff already."

He scowled intensely. "I could tell. That's why I thought you might not want to waste half your life's savings. Anyway, I'm not a 'little boy,' I'm 12."

"Yeah, and I'm 15. You're a little boy. Where are your parents?"

He frowned and shrugged. "I'm a Kokiri," he said simply, as if that would explain everything.

"Yes," I said impatiently, "so you're a kid forever. That doesn't mean that you just fell out of the sky.

"I don't have parents," he insisted.

"Fine. I'm out of here." I whistled for my friend Malon's horse Epona, hopped on and rode back home. I proudly presented my father with a jar filled with beans I'd collected along the way. "Here, daddy, now the beans won't go bad!"

He grabbed a handful of beans, but I stopped his hand before it could reach his mouth. "Dad, you can't eat all our income!"

He sighed and threw the beans down where they immediately shrivelled up. "I'd be eating _you_ if I was eating our only income."

I shivered. "Dad, I can't finance a family... why don't you write to mom for help?"

"Yes, because the Gerudos just love men. I assure you, Nabooru is better off not knowing or remembering her family.

"But we're not!" I yelled, frustrated. "We're going to starve to death soon, and you _know_ that, and you refuse to admit it! I'd do better on my own!" I turned away, furious, hopped the fence on my way, kicked an Octorock, and climbed a long steep hill, all the while hearing the loud chewing of magic beans.

When I reached the top, I sat on the plaque in front of the famous Windy Falls. I wished I had joined the Gerudos when I was invited to. Living off whatever I could take... now that's a dream life!

I stared at the rushing water. So desperate to get nowhere, because there was nowhere it needed to be... I wanted to be like that. In my anger, I threw myself at the waterfall without stopping to think.

Down I went... happy, peaceful. For about five seconds. Then I heard a sharp crack, and realized that it was my head. Wow, it sure is dark underwater...


	2. A Hidden Utopia

Chapter Two: A Hidden Utopia

_Why is everything so blue? I can't be underwater, I'm dead..._

I suddenly felt a bottle shoved into my hands. _What?_ _Am I back in the market? So when you die, you go back in time? No, that doesn't make sense, it's too blue... And this bottle smells tangy..._

"Drink up," a tough, unfamiliar voice said. _Oh no! I've been kidnapped and now the guy's giving me weird liquids! I can't drink it!_

"Shut up and drink it!" The voice insisted.

_Wait, am I talking? No, I'm thinking..._

"No, you're talking! Now shut up!"

"Shut up yourself," I thought, then was surprised to realize that I actually was talking. I brought the bottle to my lips and gulped deeply. My mind focussed and I realized I'd been drinking a red potion. No wonder everything was blue, I was staring at a ceiling. I sat up and looked around. "AAAAH!"I shouted.

"_What_?"

"You _scared_ me!"

He glared at me with black, angry eyes. "Why, because I'm a Zora?"

I rubbed my forehead. "Sorry, I'm just so tired. Haha, you're really a Zora? That's pretty crazy... WAIT A MINUTE!"

This time it was his turn to jump. "_What_?"

"You're a Zora..." I said in wonder.

His expression didn't even change. "Are you _serious_?"

I was wide-eyed. "Yes." He turned to a bunch of shelves. "Fine. Okay. Iཤྭ how long have I been here?"

"An hour," he said, grabbing a fairy and putting it back in its bottle.

I jumped in the air. "My dad's going to _kill_ me!" My head throbbed with pain and I slumped against the counter. He flashed to my side with another bottle of potion which I swallowed quickly.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I assured him hurriedly, "but I need to get home quick!"

He shook his head. "No. You can't do any strenuous activity like that."

"I _need_ to get home!" I tried to stand up, but he forced me down. (Okay, so here's an interesting tidbit: A Zora's flesh is neither warm like a human's nor cold like a fish's. What _are _they?).

He crossed his arms (fins?) across his chest. "Well then I guess I'm going to have to carry you."

I shoved my chair away. "No way." I looked around. "Where's my knight in shining armour? It has to have been some handsome young Hylian who saved me from near death, not some idiot like you."

He stared at me without any expression whatsoever. Then in a sudden movement he lunged forward and scooped me up. I struggled and yelled. One curious Zora popped out of the water nearby as he carried me down a pathway. "Tell King Zora that the human is being removed now," the shopkeeper said to the other Zora. He nodded and disappeared in a flurry of bubbles. "Hold tight," said my captor only seconds before leaping out of an opening.

I screamed, experiencing the real thrill of falling down a waterfall. Of course, the Zora landed with perfect precision, but other than that, it was really scary. Several times during our trek, I tried to make conversation without success.

"So what's your name, oh knight in shining armour?"

"Nathan."

"Nice name. I'm Emmeline."

"Hm."

"So you run the Zora shop?"

"I own it."

"Are you always this rude?"

"Yes." This got the ghost of a smile from him, but then his face snapped back into place. "We're not human."

I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. He just jumped into the river and swam me to the area where I usually slept.

"When can I visit the Zora's Domain again?" I asked excitedly.

"Never."

I opened my mouth, but that took me a second too long and then he was in the water and gone. "Why not?" echoed into the woods for what seemed like forever. The sky looked very dark to me now. I lay down in the softest grass I could find and fell into a disturbing sleep.

Many twisted dreams haunted me that night, but I could only remember one. There was a beautiful girl, and I felt like I needed to reach her, but there was a wall of fire separating us. I looked around for an escape, desperately because I knew something bad was going to happen. And then it appeared. It was a huge being, almost like a pig, only more threatening. It carried two huge swords, similar to what the Gerudo thieves used. It was trying to get at me, and the only thing between us was a Hylian boy with one small sword...


	3. Winds Change

**This chapter's shorter than most of my others, so I thought I'd get it up faster than the others ^_^. Also, sorry for the weird formatting in the beginnings of some of my chapters... I'm having issues with WordPerfect.**

Chapter Three: Winds Change

I woke up the next morning before the sun rose, terrified of my dreams. They made no sense, and obviously I knew they weren't real, but still... they scared me. I needed to get away. Without paying attention to my surroundings, I ran and ran until I realized I'd come to the gates of Kakariko Village. I sighed to myself and headed inside the village. I needed to talk to a family I knew, the Van der Heydens. They were old, rich folk, and everything I knew about Hyrule's history had come from them.

I quietly walked around Kakariko, staying at the edges because some pretty creepy people came around here at nights. I was nearing the house when I heard a sharp yell. I ducked instinctively, and a blade whizzed over my head. I spun around and came face to face with my attacker.

"You?" the small Kokiri boy asked, suddenly confused.

I didn't beat around the bush. "Go away."

"That's what I'd do if someone would tell me how to get to Death Mountain."

"Well, I'd tell you, but I need to know stuff _now._"

"What do you need to know?"

"Nothing you could tell me," I snapped, and continued walking. I could still hear the pattering of his footsteps beside me. "Are you going to leave me alone?"

He frowned. "You're very judgmental, aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Maybe there's something I could tell you. I know a lot more than you probably think I know. Just because I'm a measly three years younger than you, doesn't mean that I can't know things you don't."

"Sorry, but I don't think there's anybody who could explain anything better than the Van der Heydens can." I reached the house I had been looking for, and reached for the doorknob. "Stop following me, kid," I said loudly. When I didn't hear him leave, I looked at him. He was very pale.

"What do you want?" I asked grumpily.

He swallowed, looked around, and jumped in front of the door. "Your friends live here?"

I grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled him away from the door and grabbed the doorknob again, "Yes, they do."

He attempted to pull me off the door. "You can't go in there."

I struggled away and thrust open the door. "Why not?"

He didn't answer, because the need vanished quickly when I saw why. The house was dark, covered in cobwebs... it hadn't been that long since I'd visited. It was apparent that the Van der Heydens were not there. There was a rustling sound from a corner, and I looked to see what it was. Then I screamed.

It seemed the family was home, after all.

But they were all Skulltulas.


	4. A Family Ruined

**A big thank you to user Sakume for the new name for my OC ^_^ Just so nobody's confused, Nathan is the same person as Elijah. And a big thank you to all my readers for reading this as well. And I swear I'm going to stop putting these on every chapter. :-p**

Chapter Four: A Family Ruined

Feeling very pale, I sat on a box near the door, trying to catch my ragged breath. When I was

able to contain myself, I inched nervously over to the Skulltula whose face looked most like the father of the family's. "Lucifer...?" I asked softly, "Can you hear me?" The Skulltula spun quickly around and around.

"Emmeline? Is that you? I can hear you, but this creature's eyes are not what they should be."

"Lucifer! Are you all right?"

"I am not hurt, child, merely cursed."

I looked around to see his quadruplet children. Susannah, Wolfgang, Jacob and Luther. When they were human, they'd been full of life. Now they just looked like they wanted to die. "Lucifer, what happened?"

He shrugged as well he could. "I wish it was one of those things I could explain in a magnificent way. But it isn't so. This is a long story, beginning with time and ending with it. Sit down, Emmeline, and you as well, young Kokiri. This could take a while."

I stretched out and leaned against a wall far from any cobwebs and gestured for Lucifer to begin. He drew a deep breath and started to talk. He recounted an old legend of three Goddesses, Din, Farore, and Nayru, and how they created Hyrule. This was common knowledge, but I didn't want to interrupt him. He told us of the Sacred Realm, the Temple of Light, and the Triforce.

The Kokiri boy's face remained impassive throughout this. It was the face of someone who'd heard it all before, and many more times than he would have preferred. But he did look surprised when Lucifer continued.

"All was well, until the Gerudo king, Ganondorf, was told this tale. What others scoffed, he rightly believed, and searched for it for a long time, He had no idea where to start, so he handed out rewards to those who helped them and punished those who would not. His plans are to curse everywhere that a race lives that would not help him."

He took a deep, affected breath. "When he heard of us, he came looking for information, Not only that, but he'd heard of the treasures we had. I have given each of my family members a rare gift, you see. All my children and my wife hold something special. Wolfgang holds an adult wallet, Luther, the uniquely forged Stone of Agony, Jacob has a giant wallet, I gave Susannah a case of Bombchu, and my wife Emily, who is too ashamed to show her face owns one of the 36 coveted Heart Pieces. When we refused to cooperate, Ganondorf cursed our entire family.

"Of course, Ganondorf's magic has flaws, but these were serious. The curse rebounded upon itself and created 100 golden Skulltulas. If those are gone, the curse will be too."

This brought even greater surprise from the Kokiri. He looked disgusted. "Ganondorf," he spat.

"You know him?" Lucifer asked suspiciously.

"No more than you know. King of the Gerudos, works with the King of Hyrule, determined to be all-powerful..."

A sudden thought struck me. "Gerudo..." I squeaked.

Lucifer spun to me. "Oh, your mother. Emmeline, I'm so sorry..."

I swallowed. "Don't apologize, it's not your fault. I've just got to get home, my dad'll be worried about me." I ran out and slammed the door. All I could think about was how much it _was_ his fault. He hadn't loved her, but she'd loved him. The popular theory was that my mother had gotten bored of my father, but I knew the truth. My mother had loved both my father and Lucifer, and couldn't handle even one of them not loving her. It didn't make sense; she was young, intelligent and beautiful, she could have had anyone. But the married gentleman it had to be, and with that the consequences.

I heard the light pattering of footsteps. "What do you want now?" I asked, exasperated. I just knew it would be the Kokiri boy.

I wasn't mistaken. He stared at me curiously. "You know more about this than you're letting on, don't you?"

"I only know what I was just told," I lied, hurrying on.

"You're lying! Why are you lying to me?"

I turned around and glared at him. "I don't know anything you! I don't even know your name! Why should I tell you anything?"

"My name's Link."

"I'm sorry, but I don't care. You gave me an empty bottle, and expected my trust from that? Goodbye, Link."

I jumped into the river, which by now was behind me, and backstroked with my well-trained arm up to where my father still slept.


	5. Old Flames

**I want to write a quick author's note here just to remind everyone that Elijah's name is now Nathan, so nobody gets confused.**

Chapter Five: Old Flames

When I woke up again, this time in the morning, everything was fuzzy. I couldn't concentrate on

anything. My father lectured me for a long time on leaving home without telling me where he was going, and all I could do was nod when it seemed appropriate and try not to fall asleep. I think I did once, but I can't remember that well.

I was wondering why pulling up grass was so hard when I felt a sharp poke of pain and realized I was plucking a cucco. What was going on?

I stumbled around the riverside for a while, and then figured out I didn't know where I was going. Maybe my dad could help... no, that was silly. I laughed to myself. I closed my eyes and tried to think through the fog clouding my brain.

Nathan could help, he gave me all those free potions! I jumped up, tripped, and resolved to crawling up the hill instead. When I jumped toward the waterfall, I almost missed Zora's Domain. I did my best to sneak through the place, because after all, Nathan had told me that I wasn't supposed to come back. I reached the shop after having to change direction more times than I should have in my condition. "Nathan!" I exclaimed delightedly.

He put his head down. I think he muttered something like "oh no," but I could quite hear. "What are you doing here?" he hissed, "I told you not to come back!"

"Well, why not?"

"It's probably too complicated for you to understand. Some conflict with a man named Ganondorf. Now, why are you here?"

"I need some more of that free potion you've got."

He threw up his arms. "They're not just free! I only gave them to you because you could have died without them! You can't just prance in here every time you want to jump off a cliff and demand- what are you giggling about?"

"You're so dumb," I laughed in a dazed sort of way, then promptly fell off my chair. He took on a concerned tone after that.

"How long have you felt like this?" he asked, setting me back on the chair.

"Uh, since I woke up this morning?"

"You shouldn't have gone to sleep. Even _you_ should know a simple thing like that."

"But I woke up once during the night and I was fine!"

He rubbed his head. "Unless there was a stressful situation that occurred since then..."

I shook my head, not trying to disagree, just trying to clear my head. He patted my shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, it'll be fine in a few days. You just need to rest and _please_ avoid stressful situations." He pulled up a bottle of red potion and gave it to me. "Drink this sparingly; you can't be coming back here all the time. King Zora is not as forgiving as he might seem."

I wanted to ask him something, but he was already shoving me out the door. Whatever happened to chivalry? I stared into the depths of the potion, hoping it would give me an answer to my unasked question. Nothing happened, of course. I drank deeply for a second before stumbling home.

_I can't go back_. This bothered me a lot. Until now, I could roam freely wherever I wanted, as long as I could get there. Now the Zora who was spoon-feeding me life was telling me I could get near him. Why were the Zoras so afraid? I could understand their fear of Ganondorf, but Nathan, with what he had seen of my intelligence level, would be able to argue against anyone who said I was helping Ganondorf.

I sat down glumly. I felt so restricted. My father walked by a few times apologizing for yelling at me, not understanding that wasn't the reason I was upset. I wanted to talk to the Van der Heydens.

Their house in Kakariko village appeared empty but for on small Skulltula. "Wolfgang?" I guessed. The Skulltula shifted in my general direction. I strode over to him. "Wolfgang... where is everyone else?" I asked, a hint of panic in my voice.

He wouldn't look at me. "They think you ran away last night because you were disgusted," he said in a heavily accented voice. Even when he was human, he hadn't spoken much, and his accent surprised me as always. "They already didn't want you to know, but Lucifer felt you should know the truth. The others, after you left, made him ashamed."

"So where are they?"

He raised a spindly arm up to the ceiling. "They are here, but... they are hiding." I looked up to the rafters and saw the four spider-shaped shadows scuttling and whispering. "I told them you weren't like that... that there must be something else... but they didn't believe me."

I tried to put my hand comfortingly on what looked like his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He scurried up his web, too high for me to reach. "I hate this body. This is horrible. My sister, Susannah, had her life set out. She had a wonderful boyfriend, a solid job, a new home picked out, everything! Jacob was all set to join the Hylian Armed forces. Luther was the oddball, but he was happy. I wanted to see the world, but now the most interesting thing I can see is the bugs in the cobwebs! And I won't eat them! None of us will! We're all going to waste away..."

I wanted to cry now. "But surely someone will kill the spiders..."

"Yes, some of them! But there isn't going to be anyone who will even bother _trying_ to find them all! Hardly anybody even knows what they're for!"

"Please come down, Wolfgang, I really want to help! Do you know where any of them are?"

"How would I know?" he muttered bitterly. "I'm stuck in this house all day. It used to be so beautiful. But a curse has an atmosphere." he raised himself up until he was almost in the rafters with the others. "Please go, Emmeline, I don't want to cause you pain."


	6. A New Life

Chapter Six: A New Life

Death Mountain is a very peaceful place. If you can get past the Tektites and the occasional rockslide, it's actually quite beautiful.

No time for admiring it today, though. Today I was on a mission. It had been a week since me and Wolfgang had that conversation, and he'd made me promise not to come back. I was hunting around Kakariko Village for golden spiders (unsuccessfully) when I'd heard what sounded like loud cheering. I began to climb the mountain, searching for the source.

I found it when I reached the previously blocked off entrance to Dodongo's cavern. The leader of the Gorons, Darunia, was leading a parade of Gorons down the mountain side.

I walked beside him. "What's going on?"

He pounded his chest. "Today we have witnessed the defeat of a monster of demonic proportions! A hero has descended upon us and slain the evil King Dodongo! The Goron race has been saved!" Two Gorons broke through the crowd, carrying a small boy on their shoulders. _Oh no._ It couldn't be...

"Hello, Link," I grumbled as he waved cheerfully at me.

Darunia placed Link proudly on the ground. "As a token of our appreciation, I present him with our spiritual stone: the Goron Ruby!" He pulled out a shiny red ruby. It was gorgeous.

"So where are you off to now, Mr. Hero?" I asked, eyeing the ruby.

"I'm heading to Zora's Domain in search of their spiritual stone."

"What is with you? Running around saving lives for riches? I don't need to guess where you got that emerald from."

He shook his head. "It's probably too complicated for you to understand."

"Yeah, I've heard that before. I'm 15, you're 12, try me."

"It's not important right now. Have you done anything about the curse on your friends?"

I glared holes through him. "I've tried. And it's very important, because the Zoras probably won't want you around."

"Their princess is missing, I know where she is. Do you know how to get to Zora's Domain?"

"Yes," I said with a wide grin.

"But you're not going to tell me."

"Precisely." I kicked a rock. I wished I didn't have that secret to keep. Or at least not so many people to keep it from. Why was this place so important all of a sudden? This was driving me nuts. At least if I were a Zora at least I wouldn't have anyone to keep it from. Suddenly I gasped. "That's it!" Link jumped.

"What's it?"

"I'm going to live with the Zoras. Got any paper?"

Confused, he handed me some paper and a bottle of ink. I pulled out my favourite quill and scribbled a note to my father, explaining where I was going. I didn't stop once to feel guilty about leaving him, because I knew I'd never go then.

Placing the note on top of the bean jar when I got home, I sat down to make sure my letter made sense, when...

_**CRACK!!!**_ A rocked smashed into the back of my head. I blinked and my vision swam. When I saw what I thought looked like a purple blob floating in a hazy mist, I realized that it was an Octorock.

_Excellent,_ I thought as I tried to climb the hill without falling down, _Nathan's going to think I'm such an idiot. He already does, but hey, third time's the charm._ I entered Zora's Domain as usual and headed to the shop. There, I sharply cracked my head on the corner of a shelf.

Nathan looked up and groaned. A customer in his shop looked questioningly at him. He shook his head embarrassedly. "Emmeline, I'm beginning to think you have nothing better to do than give yourself multiple concussions."

"It was an Octorock. But that's not important right now." I turned the other Zora around by its shoulders. "Can you go now? This is kind of private." He walked out, grumbling about customer service. I leaned on Nathan's counter. "I need to leave home. I need to live with the Zoras."

Nathan looked like he wanted to break something. "You. Cannot. Live. Here."

"Because I'm so annoying?"

"**No**, because you're a human. Just because I can tolerate you doesn't mean King Zora will."

I slid gracelessly onto the ground. "Why don't you help me up and we can talk about it over some red potion?"

His face grew stiff. "I'm out."

"That's okay, it's not that important-"

"Don't be silly, if you die now it's on my conscience." He ran a finger down the piece of paper he was holding. "Our closest supplier is in Hyrule Castle Town, so I guess we should nip down there." He got up from his seat behind the counter and pulled me up.

"I can get there myself."

"Not in your condition. It'll be dark soon. With you so weak, the Stalchildren will be all over you. You need someone to watch you."

After a few minute of back and forth, I consented to him walking with me. I traipsed sullenly across Hyrule field with him meandering behind me. "Why are you so slow?" I called back to him.

"You think I ever get out of Zora's Domain? I man that shop 24/7, babe."

I raised my eyebrows. "Babe?"

He didn't reply. I turned all the way around to see him looking at the skeletal figures rising from the ground. My heart started pumping, but I wasn't worrying too much. "Come on, don't stop, we're almost there..."

"The gates close at night, remember?"

I squinted through the darkness to see the drawbridge slowly being pulled upwards. I shrieked and ran. I wasn't fast enough, though, and the town was closed off for the night. I was really starting to panic when Nathan unexpectedly threw an arm out and knocked me into the moat.

I yelped as I tumbled into the frigid water. Nathan landed perfectly beside me. The Stalchildren lined up by the water's edge, staring at us with their eerie red eyes.

"Nathan, I am going to _freeze_. My clothes are soaking."

I could faintly see a smirk on his face. "Well, I figured you've been hit in the head enough and skeletons doing it too wouldn't be helpful."


	7. Crossing the Line

Chapter Seven: Crossing the Line

I floated in the frigid water until the sun began to rise and the Stalchildren retreated

underground. I wasn't pleased with the way things had gone so far. Nathan seemed to feel a little bad about that, and promised me a great day in town. The first thing he did was run into a shop and bring out some new clothes for them. I quickly found a safe place to change and ran back out to him.

He smiled. "You look nice. Hey, do you like bowling?" he asked, gesturing towards the Bombchu Bowling place. I nodded excitedly.

Inside there was a purple-haired teenager. She was wearing too much eye makeup, and was probing every male who came through the doors. She look especially pleased with Nathan, and offered him a discount because of the "company's policy for non-humans." He politely declined the offer.

After an hour in the place, Nathan seemed a little worn out so we left. He showed me around town, even though I'd already seen it enough that it wasn't so exciting anymore. When the sun went down, we finally went to the potion shop. The owner brought out a table and some stools from a room in the back after we purchased a few red potions.

"Nice man," I commented airily, taking a swig of the potion to try and clear my head.

"Yes, very kind," Nathan sipped some potion and made a face. "This is gross. How can you drink this? And it's so strong..." he added, shaking his head.

"Haven't you ever drank this before?"

"No, I just sell it. Never had a reason to drink any."

"Ah. Well, it grows on you."

"Is that so."

We were silent until I somehow managed to knock my bottle onto the ground. I groaned. Nathan quickly leaned down and picked it up. I stared embarrassedly at the table until Nathan said "Hey, at least it's not glass..."

"Nathan, I'd like you to clear something up for me."

"You mean there's something you don't know?" he asked, only a tad sarcastically.

"That's part of my problem! How come you're so mean to me? You find endless fun in insulting me, but when you think I might be suffering even a little bit, you act like some sort of gentleman!"

He averted his eyes. Or maybe I averted mine, at this point I wasn't sure. All I knew was that the next moment he was kissing me. All sorts of signals went through my head which would have made sense if everything wasn't so fuzzy.

He must have realized I wasn't kissing him back, because he moved away. "I'm so sorry."

"For... for _that_. I shouldn't have... I mean, I'm not even human. This must be really awkward for you... I'm so sorry-"

"No, it's not that... can we try this when my head is a little clearer?"

His face brightened. "It's late, do you want to go back to Zora's Domain?"

"Sure, but... in the morning."

Nathan had the shopkeeper show me to an inn, and headed off to Lake Hylia to give me some privacy. I fell asleep, weary but finally happy.


	8. The Healing

**Author's note: Sorry for the long absence! I had the hugest case of writer's block after that last chapter, but I think I'm back on track now and will try to update regularly again :) And thank you to Razzle for pointing out that I called Nathan Elijah in here ;)**

Chapter Eight: The Healing

My head felt better in the morning. That's when it hit me. A Zora. A Zora! Oh no, oh no, oh no... my father would never approve. Then I remembered I'd told him I wasn't coming back. But King Zora surely wouldn't be too happy.

Nathan poked his head in the doorway. "Are you ready to leave yet?"

_No_, I thought. "Yes," I said. I was still so confused. What was I doing? This wasn't normal. Before I could think of anything else he had my arm and was pulling me out to Hyrule Field. We were running across the field together when we ran into, yet again, Link, who seemed to be running down from Kakariko village. I was beginning to think he was just choosing random spots to hide and wait until I passed by.

He also seemed to be stammering. "I- I went to that house. The one with all the Skulltulas." I crossed my arms and glared at him impatiently. "Okay, fine, fine, the people under a curse. And... I don't know what happened, but one of them was okay. I think I killed... 12 or something, I don't even know."

Before Link or Nathan could even blink I was halfway up the steps. I threw open the door to what seemed to have been dubbed the "House of Skulltula" by the local graffiti artist.

The inside still looked dark and depressing, but in the back corner I could see... Wolfgang! He was leaping joyfully in the air, and caught me in his arms as I ran to him. "Emmeline! I'm okay! Someone's doing something! And look how much thicker Luther's arms are getting!"

I stood back and grinned up at him. He'd always been one of the tall, good-looking ones, with long rust-coloured hair and a slightly upturned nose. "So now that you're human, are you going back to being the strong, silent type?" I remembered how quiet he'd been before the curse. The look in his eyes could portray what he felt better than words could.

He squeezed me tight. "No way. Too few words wasted."

I grimaced. "I _really_ want to stay and talk, but I have some things to clear up. I'll visit soon, okay?"

I turned happily to the doorway where Nathan sat waiting, his face completely void of expression. "Someone I should be worried about?" he asked in an unfathomable tone.

I sighed. "It's kind of complicated. I guess... if this was a year ago you would have been worried."

He didn't seem fully satisfied by my answer, but he changed the subjects. "So, do you want to go... home?"

My eyes brightened. "You mean..?"

He took my arm and smiled. "I think maybe King Zora can make an exception for someone as lovely as you." He stroked a lock of my fiery red hair.

I giggled and pushed his hand away. "I'm lovely now? Don't overdo it."

"Sorry, I forgot I'm supposed to be bitter and angry," he said in a stony voice that was almost convincing.

"Nathan, you are a _terrible_ actor."

"I fooled you for a while, didn't I?"

"Yeah, why was that? You should let your real colours shine through," I said with a playful tug at one of his arm fins.

He hastily changed the subject for the second time that day. I began to grow suspicious, but I wasn't sure what about. We went on walking with our playful banter. When Link joined us at the bottom of the village stairs, I didn't say anything about it. I felt euphoric. Three unlikely friends walked toward the river: A stubborn Kokiri boy too short for his age, a Hylian girl whose attention span could fit into a matchbox, and an unfriendly but still somehow sweet Zora who was almost definitely hiding something.


	9. A Fishy Story

Chapter Nine: A Fishy Story

The sweet mood didn't last long. Later in the afternoon, the hot Hylian sun began to beat down

on us, making us hot and tired. Me and Nathan had stopped talking long ago, but Link for whatever reason was still trying to make conversation. "Em, is your boyfriend okay?"

"DON'T call me 'Em.' My name is _Emmeline_," I snapped, more harshly than I should have. But it was way too hot, and I was sweaty and couldn't take much more of Link's small talk.

Nathan stopped walking. "So instead of telling him that spider-boy isn't your boyfriend, you get mad about what he calls you?"

I wiped my forehead. "Well, everyone here knows that Wolfgang's not my boyfriend, and he never will be again."

"Obviously _he_ doesn't know that."

"Yes, but who cares? You're overreacting."

"And what do you mean _again_?"

I sighed, annoyed at myself for thinking that he would miss that part. "It's... it's nothing. It's a long story."

Nathan pretty much exploded then. "I can't believe you're hiding this from me! You'd pick a freak of nature over me?!"

Blood was rushing to my face. This conversation was turning badly against me. I shot Link a look that was designed to let him know this was all his fault and I hated him for it. He kicked a rock and looked away. I then focussed back on Nathan. "He's not a _freak_, he was cursed! And anyway, what do you call yourself then? You're half a fish!"

"So that's it? You'd rather be with him because he's human?"

"No!" I yelled. I had no more patience left. But Nathan had already walked around to Link's other side, signalling that this was over.

"Thanks," I hissed at Link. "You've broken us up for sure now. And we've been together for less than a day!"

Link stared up at me with his near-innocent blue eyes. I was surprised at how unhappy they looked. "Sorry," he said softly.

I immediately felt ashamed. He was only a kid, and I shouldn't have been so hard on him. But I always got the feeling he was more grown-up than he looked, and I forgot his age.

"No, Link, I'm sorry..." I heard myself say. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you. I don't care enough about him to be so angry." But my heart ached. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Nathan standing tall, strong, and angry at the world, and I knew that I was lying.

There was nothing I could do now, though. Nathan's protective wall, which had taken me so long to break down the first time, was back up even stronger. But for now, we had to talk to King Zora, and we were at the waterfall.

"Do you have a musical instrument?" Nathan spoke to Link rather than me. "There is a tune of the royal family which holds a sort of magic that slows the waterfall. It makes it a lot easier for humans to get through."

Link held up a pinkish-white ocarina. "I think I know that tune... Princess Zelda taught it to me." I was surprised. People _knew_ I wouldn't cause any trouble, and I couldn't see anyone from the royal family, but this kid could get in no problem? What was Hyrule coming to?

He raised the ocarina to his lips and played the song. I thought it was too high-pitched and irritating. I was disappointed; I'd heard that the tune was beautiful. Maybe its magic only worked on certain people. However, the water did slow, and we jumped through one by one. A few Zoras looked panicked. I guess they didn't expect two Hylians, they'd just gotten used to me.

We wasted no time in getting to King Zora; he was sitting atop his miniature waterfall as usual. I was about to ask permission to stay when Link decided he had something more important to say. "I know where your princess is."

King Zora looked down at him suspiciously. "And I suppose you'll want a thousand-rupee ransom for her?"

Link looked taken aback. "No..." he handed the king a rolled-up and slightly damp note. The king snatched it away.

"Inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly? Impossible!" He continued reading. "Oh well, I suppose there is no other choice. Go ahead." He spent the better part of an hour shifting over to reveal a tunnel.

"Oh, and King Zora..." I began. He stared down at me.

"I suppose you want a reward for rescuing her?"

"_No_, I just want to live here!" He looked even more suspicious about that. "It was Nathan's idea," I added quickly, hoping that Nathan would play along no matter how mad he was.

"Fine. Nathan can set up your quarters. Now will the two of you please leave? And Nathan, can you get back to the shop?"

Me and Link hurried through the tunnel. That had seemed way too easy for the big fuss Nathan had made about King Zora being scared of humans.

"Ew," I said when we stepped out in an open-air area that was almost totally filled with water. Almost right in front of us sat floating, in the water, a huge, ugly, armoured whale creature. "Link, what in the named of Farore is that?"

"It's Lord Jabu-Jabu."

I looked at the whale thing in horror. "We have to go _in_ this thing? I thought that this 'Lord' was going to be some wise sage or something!"

I turned to Link, who was clutching his sides and laughing. "What's so funny?"

When he finally got his breath, he answered. "How do you figure _that_? How would you expect that the princess would fit into the belly of a sage? And why would a sage hold her captive in the first place? And besides, the Zora are proud aquatic people, why would they worship a human?"

I scowled and tried to find something interesting to look at besides Link or Lord Jabu-Jabu. Not that Link was interesting to look at. "No," I growled to myself.

"No, what?"

I blushed. "Never mind. How do we get inside this thing?"


	10. The Belly of the Beast

**Author's note: Okay, okay, I know I took a really long time updating again, but I have a good excuse this time. That being that I just got Twilight Princess and I wanted to play it obsessively :) But here's a nice long chapter to make up for that. And I bring up one of my biggest issues in this chapter: Why are there doors in Jabu-Jabu's belly?**

Chapter Ten: The Belly of the Beast

I sat impatiently on the steps leading to Jabu-Jabu's huge face. He stared blankly ahead with

huge eyes. He didn't even really look alive. Why was Link leaving me alone with it? He'd left half an hour ago, saying he had an idea and I should stay here. Some idea.

But just as I thought that, he came splashing over. I stood up with an exaggerated sigh. "What took you so long?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I took ten minutes investigating and figuring out the princess vanished around the time she should have been feeding Jabu-Jabu, and twenty minutes trying to catch a fish."

"Why didn't you just get one from Nathan? He has them at the shop."

"He told me that it was closed. While he was sitting behind the counter. He's pretty upset."

My stomach jerked guiltily, but I ignored it. This was hardly my fault. "So what's your great plan? Rub the fish all over yourself, and hope for the best?"

Link just plopped the fish on the ground in front of Jabu-Jabu. He caught sight of my mocking smirk. "Hey," he said defensively, "I'm sure that's how the–"

Jabu-Jabu opened his huge mouth, and began to inhale. Me and Link never had a chance. Along with the fish, we flew toward the huge jaws.

I closed my eyes when I landed, waiting for the pain of the razor teeth. After a while, Link shook my shoulders and got me up. I was sitting on a bright red, rubbery, moist floor. "Weird," I yawned. I stretched and put my head down on a huge bump. Then it registered for me. "EW!" I screeched. "We're on his TONGUE!"

Link nodded gravely. "Unfortunately."

I screamed and jumped up, looking for somewhere to run. The jaws were tightly clamped shut, so I ran the other way. Immediately two Octorocks popped out of I don't even know where. I leapt back. Link calmly went in front of me and held up a small brown shield. He deflected the rocks back at them and knocked the unconscious.

"Thanks," I said, still a little scared. After all, I'd had some bad Octorock experiences. "So remind me again why we are in here, sitting on a tongue and some disgusting ooze inside a huge whale's mouth?"

Link slung his shield onto his back. "We've been through this. Not only will we rescue the Zora princess, but we should be able to get the Zora's spiritual stone out of it."

"And remind me again why we want it?"

"It's a personal matter," he replied stiffly.

"Great. So for a person matter, I'm stuck here," I began as Link wandered curiously around, "with a short Kokiri," I continued as he slashed at some sort of bubble with his sword and bounced off, "inside a giant whale, searching for a fish princess and a pretty blue stone, and– AH!" I jumped back as a ball of white light flew out from Link's general area.

It bounced around in circles, off the walls (flesh?) of the place we were stuck. "Look, Link, there's a switch! Right there up on the ceiling!"

Link smiled at me. "I guess you haven't met Navi yet. She's my fairy. Navi, this is my friend Emmeline." Navi seemed to ignore him as she flashed blue light and hovered beside the switch. Link shrugged and produced a slingshot and aimed it at the switch. All it took was one hit and the switch retracted toward the roof of Jabu-Jabu's mouth.

"Ew, Link, I don't think that's a switch." But sure enough, just as the words came out of my mouth, some nasty webbing pulled off what seemed to be a door. "Well isn't that convenient," I muttered.

"What are you talking about, Em?"

"Emmeline. And what I mean is, everything seems so manufactured! Conveniently there's a switch right in front of a door. And for that matter, there shouldn't even be a door in a whale!"

"Keep in mind that Jabu-Jabu isn't really a whale, exactly. The Zoras easily could have manufactured him."

"But why?" I asked as Link ducked through the doorway. I followed, but immediately had to duck and roll as electricity sizzled by just over my head. I stood up and saw several Biris floating around. "Okay, now I _know_ something's wrong when there's a jellyfish, a _live_ jellyfish, in a whale's stomach." Link swung his sword at one Biri, but like with the bubble it just glanced off. He continued fighting in that frustrating way until we reached another door. Through that door we found a room full of Biris and mysterious holes. And... a young female Zora!

Link boldly stepped up to her. "You don't have to be afraid anymore! We are here to rescue you."

The tiny Zora put her hands on her hips, stared him square in the eye, and actually _argued_ with him. She rattled off excuse after excuse: she didn't know about any message in a bottle, she didn't care if her father was worried, she couldn't leave until she found something she'd lost. She was really quite tiresome. I bade her future husband good luck.

She then, after further discussion, marched away from Link and quite suddenly slipped through on of the strange holes. "Nice heroism, pal," I snickered. But Link had already followed her down the hole. "Never mind," I muttered, "but just once could you have decided not to play the hero?"

I was too scared to jump through the hole. What if I died? Link could already be dead. If me and Nathan weren't fighting, I would be at Zora's domain right now, safe and sound, not even wondering if Link would ever come back.

But for now, I was alone. The only company I had were a handful of Biris and an ugly, green, pulsating tentacle. It was eerie. Nothing was attacking me, and I couldn't think of a reason why. I began to wish something would try to fight me.

That was stupid, though. If I was going to die in here, it might as well be by trying to get out. Recalling my training with the Gerudo, I circled the tentacle, looking for a weak spot. I figured it must be important since it was the only one there. I peered closely, and after a short amount of time I noticed a point where there was an opening whenever the tentacle shrunk. _Oh_. It was just another hole. Still, it must have been important, so I braced myself and slipped through, barely avoiding a hit from the tentacle. I silently thanked the Gerudo for making me one of the few who could have done that.

I stood in a large, fairly open area filled with Biris, and in a corner, two golden spiders! I triumphantly reached out to grab one. I had nothing to kill it with, but it was a bug, I could probably step on it.

"Ow!" I shrieked. The spider had rough skin, which had cut my hand. As I sucked on my hand, trying to stop the bleeding, the only spider I could reach scuttled away. "FINE!" I yelled. "If I could CATCH you, I could help save my friends, but if you want to stay over there, out of reach, then FINE!" I sat down seething for a while, suddenly feeling a bit ridiculous. I was yelling at some creepy insect that didn't know better. Or maybe it did. I didn't know much about curses.

"Watch out, I can get this." I jumped. Link was standing behind me. He expertly tossed a new-looking boomerang at the spider and killed it. He did the same to the other.

"How long were you standing there?"

"Oh, just a second or two. I saw you going down the hole just as I came back in the room, and I guess I thought I should save you." He then picked up the Zora princess, who was sitting behind him.

"Took you long enough. Why are you carrying her?"

"I'll explain later. Let's see what's through that door," he suggested, pointing to a door that I hadn't noticed before. I followed him through, to find a small room which held only a raised platform and a sparkling blue gem on that platform.

The princess began struggling in Link's arms, so he dropped her. "That's it! That's what I was looking for! Throw me up there right now!"

Link met my eyes and widened his. I immediately sensed what he meant. Before the princess could pick up the sapphire, I had leapt, rolled, and grabbed it off the platform. The princess snatched wildly, but I held it high and smiled nastily. She kicked and slapped me, but I could handle simple fighting like that. I easily shoved her away. Link stepped forward to break up the fight, but it was too late for him to stop what happened next. The ground trembled, and the platform shot up in the air. In my moment of distraction, the princess got the sapphire back, but the next second that didn't matter. She yelped. "What is this?! An octopus?!"

We had come face to face with _two_ huge purple octopuses. One grabbed us, and the other crawled onto the elevator and it down. Our octopus dragged us to a huge, round room and somehow conjured up some sort of cage of blue light. I don't know how long we sat there. It must have been hours. But Link got there in the end.

Things didn't get better though. A huge monster dropped from the ceiling, surrounded by jellyfish. The door behind Link was swallowed up. And the huge monster began to shoot electricity at Link.

At first I was terrified, but even a fight involving a friend gets boring after you sit there for a few hours. The princess made it worse by talking. "You seem interested. Do you like him or something?" she giggled.

"No. I have a boyfriend, I think."

"You just think you do? Who is it?" she giggled again. I really wished she would stop.

"The Zora who runs the shop. Nathan."

Her eyes lit up. "_Ohhh_, you're the one he talks about all the time! You're not exactly what I expected."

I felt warm inside thinking he'd been talking about me, but then I remembered again that we were fighting. Also, I felt a little insulted by her comment. "Wait, he's a shopkeeper and you're a princess, do you even talk?"

"Of course. He's my brother! You're lucky, dating a prince."

"A _WHAT_?!"


	11. Through the Door of Time

Chapter Eleven: Through the Door of Time

"Oh yeah," the princess giggled. "He'll be the next King Zora. Didn't he tell you?"

"He may have forgotten to mention it. So, uh..."

"Ruto."

"Okay, Ruto, so what's with the whole princess thing if Nathan's taking the throne?"

"A female can take the throne if all the males in the family die or are unfit to become King. So I'm hoping Nathan will disgrace our family somehow, then I can be the first Zora queen."

"So if he embarrasses old Kingie then he can't be king?"

Ruto grimaced. "Not exactly. There's some huge rule book that each king adds to that gives reasons to terminate a princeship. It's a pretty fascinating read. I've been studying it to see if I can catch him with something obscure. Wow, he's amazing!"

I watched as Link delivered a final blow to the monster he'd been fighting for a few hours. It twitched away and boils sprouted all over its body before it exploded. Link coolly scooped up the heart container left behind and stepped toward us. Ruto blushed and began to complain. "What took you so long? ...I was just lonely, that's all." She changed her tune a bit. "You looked cool out there... cooler than I thought you would."

Link winked at me. He reached out to grab my arm and pull me out of the prison of blue light, but the moment he touched it we all seemed to quite suddenly be pulled out. When I next took in our surroundings, we were standing on a long log in Zora's Fountain. Link moved back and fell into the water when he saw how close Ruto was standing to him. She leapt in the water right after him.

I watched the exchange with amusement. Link was pretty much being entangled in the princess's trap. I couldn't hear the whole thing from where I was, but from what I heard, Link was trapped.

When Ruto finally handed over the Zora's Sapphire and left Link alone, I dropped down into the lake. "So, what happened there?"

Link was very pale. "I'm engaged at the age of 12 and I'm not supposed to tell her father. But that doesn't matter now. I have to go see Princess Zelda."

"You really have a thing for princesses, don't you?"

"Shut up. What about _prince_ Nathan?"

"How did you find out?!"

"I can fight for my life and hear at the same time," he said with a mischievous smile.

"Fine, I won't mention your fiancee if you don't mention my prince. Can I come with you to see Zelda? I'd love to meet this girl who's got you running all over Hyrule, stealing riches."

"Okay. I don't expect to be around much longer anyway. I should be able to say a proper goodbye before I enter the Sacred Realm."

Link refused to even stop to rest before heading off. He insisted that we get to the castle as soon as possible. We ran through Zora's Domain, jumped out at the waterfall, and swam down the long river. When we passed the magic bean sales spot, I saw my father, looking unhappy but still munching on beans. I don't know if he saw me.

We were wet when we left the water, but by the time we reached the castle the sun had dried us off. We looked up at the wall surrounding the market. The drawbridge was up, even though it was the middle of the day. I vaguely recalled it had been late afternoon when we'd first entered Zora's Domain all together, and it was certainly earlier now. How long had we been there?

As I was lost in my thoughts, the sky clouded over and it started to rain. At the same time, the drawbridge creaked open. A wild-looking white horse galloped through, straining to go faster. Riding the horse was a muscular woman with white hair, and a girl in her early teens wearing a long dress and a headress. When she noticed us, she threw a blue object into the moat. The horse just kept running.

The next thing through the gates was a black horse I recognized as a purebred Gerudo stallion. Riding this horse was the creepiest man I'd ever seen. He had bushy, wild red hair and a beard to match, a big nose, a disturbing grin, and a large gold ornament on his forehead. I could appreciate that he was Gerudo, but there is a difference between Gerudo men and women that you will never understand until you experience it.

The man tried to get it out of us where the white horse had gone, but Link refused to tell him and I followed his lead. After a while the Gerudo man grew visibly angry. He couldn't get us to tell him the location of the horse, so he shot a blast of magic at us, laughed for a while and rode away. I blacked out after that.

_Darkness. Pain. Yes, a lot of that. A weird, tingly feeling in my fingers..._ "Em..?" a small voice said uncertainly. I opened my eyes slowly. Link was staring down at me worriedly. "Em, are you okay?"

"My name is _Emmeline_."

"I guess I should fill you in on what happened. You passed out for quite a long time, you must not be used to magical attacks."

"You think?" I snapped.

Link continued as if I hadn't spoken. "I tried to wake you up, but you just kept rolling over. I figured I should get what Zelda threw into the water. It was an ocarina," he explained, holding up a pretty blue instrument, "and when I picked it up, I got a psychic message. Zelda was teaching me a song." He raised the ocarina to his mouth and played a strange tune that sent shivers down my spine.

"Okay, so what do we have to do?"

"Come with me," he insisted, as if I hadn't been to Castle Town a hundred times and didn't know where everything was. But like the child he was, he grabbed my arm and dragged me all over town until we came to the steps of a proud-looking old building.

"The Temple of Time..." I breathed. "Wait, what are you and the princess up to? I've heard enough stories. Legends, I suppose. You're entering the Temple of Time with a strange instrument with a mysterious song, and uniting the spiritual stones! You're trying to get the Triforce!"

"No, just trying to protect it." He ascended the stairs with a determined fierceness in his eyes. I followed him, very curious at this point. Before we reached the end of the room, where a pedestal and the Door of Time where, Link turned to me. "I don't think I'm going to be coming out of this temple."

"Don't worry, Link, I'm sure–"

"No, Emmeline, I'm serious. I'm not coming out."

In spite of myself, I started to cry. I impatiently swiped the tears off my face. Who was I to be this selfish? This could save Hyrule, even if I didn't know how. "B-but Link, I–" I stopped short. I couldn't find the words. I didn't even know what I wanted to say. I barely knew him, what _could_ I say?"

He took my hands and searched my face. "Don't worry. I know." We walked side by side to the Door of Time where the three spiritual stones flew through the air and took their respective places on the pedestal. Link looked nervous, but he steadily played the tune he'd learned telepathically. Before our very eyes, the Door of Time was swallowed up in a wave of blue light and vanished, leaving behind an empty room.

An almost empty room. In the centre was a few steps leading up to a sword set in stone. A stream of light focussed on it from a window somewhere. "Well, this is it," Link announced, stepping up to the sword.

"Yes," I agreed in a very tiny voice.

He put his left hand on the sword's handle. He tried to lift it unsuccessfully. He tugged and pulled, leaning on it with all his weight.

I began to feel relatively calm. "Good effort, though. Well, since you've survived, maybe..."

Link was slowly budging the sword this way and that, and it was slowly coming loose. Within minutes only the tip was left.

My heart jumped. "Link, stop, I–" Too late. Link gave one final tug on the sword and it came free. Before I could finish my sentence, he was swept up in a blaze of blue light, disappearing just like the Door of Time. "–love you." But there was nobody to hear those words except for me.


	12. The Missing Link

**Author's note: I have to admit something I've realized. I have a self-created paradox here. In Ocarina of Time, when Link** **goes into the future and then come back, it's at the exact moment he left, so it's as if he really never did leave. And this would therefore ruin the plot. So, for the sake of the story, I've made a mess of the whole time travel thing :-p**

Chapter Twelve: The Missing Link

I couldn't believe it. The most stable thing in my life was gone. Gone, in a flash of a blue light.

How much did I even have left? My mother had joined the Gerudo when I was young, and in turn I'd left my father. Nathan hated me. Link was gone.

But... there was Wolfgang. We'd been together through a lot, maybe he could help me. I waited for a while just to see if Link would come back. He didn't. I trudged to Kakariko, feeling a hole in my heart. How did it come to this? When and why did my feeling get so strong? Maybe someone in the "House of Skulltula" could help.

I hesitated at the door. I supposed now that one of them was human, I should knock. But I didn't want to offend the others, especially Emily who was so sensitive about her current form. Finally I contented myself with knocking once and then walking in.

The first thing I noticed was a tall redhead. It wasn't Wolfgang, though. Not only did he have different taste in clothes, there was just something different about him that you could feel. "Hello, Luther," I greeted, cheerful that more of my longtime friends were being healed by the curse. I felt a pang in my heart as I remembered that no more of them would be freed now that Link was gone.

"Hi," Luther replied, not meeting my eyes. He'd pretty much always been anti-social, at least as far as I could remember, nobody really knew why. It was just his way.

"Is Wolfgang around here somewhere?" I asked. Luther gestured to one of the house's dark corners. I hurried over to find Wolfgang curled up with a book.

"Hey, what's up, Emmeline?"

I sat down next to him and hugged my knees. I wanted to tell him everything that was hurting me, from my mother leaving me all the way up to Link's disappearance, but I choked on the words. Instead, I focussed on just one part of my misery. "You remember that Zora who came with me here the day you were healed? Well, me and him were together." I buried my face in my legs. I didn't know why I had so much trouble talking about this. "We got into a fight over... over someone." I didn't tell Wolfgang it was about him. He would feel really bad.

"And..?"

"Well... well... oh, he really hates me now and I don't think he'll ever give me another chance and I've got nobody left and I hate my life and maybe I'll run off and join my mother with the Gerudo after all and... I don't know."

Wolfgang laughed. "Is that all? Emmeline, what happened to you? You don't need a man, or at least you told me that last year," he reminded me with a forced sort of smile.

I shot him an evil look. "Did I say that? Fine. But Nathan's a Zora, not a man."

Wolfgang gave up on the offensive. That might have gotten me riled up in the past, but even he could see I was changing. He tried again in a much softer voice. "Hey, why don't you head back home? Find something to distract yourself with for a few days. Maybe you'll find you feel better after that."

I rather thought I wouldn't, but I thanked him and left. When I returned to Zora's Domain, I borrowed the book Ruto had mentioned that contained the ways of embarrassing the Zora royalty. It was thicker than my head. I locked myself up with it for three days.

When I emerged I was enraged. I stormed to the Zora shop. Nathan looked up from the tunic he was folding. "We're closed," he said in a flat tone.

"I don't want anything from your stupid shop," I snapped fiercely. "You've been using me!"

He looked nervous. "What are you babbling about?"

With great effort, I held up the huge book. "Subsection 25.08.32c? Zora princeship will be terminated if the Zora in question is romantically involved with a member of another species! For some twisted reason, you don't want to crown, and you though I was a perfect opportunity!"

"Emmeline, be reasonable. There are thousand of rules in that book, look at it! Nobody could follow every one!"

"You disgust me! Why even bother lying! It's so obvious you don't want the crown anyway! Isn't that why you mope around in this store all day?"

Nathan looked uncomfortably at the floor. "Okay, I admit it. The whole idea of royalty makes me sick. Look at King Zora, perched on that waterfall all the time. He's self-righteous, he's paranoid, and he's ridiculous. He makes ridiculous laws, and screens any humans to come through here. I don't want to become that. But Zora royalty isn't something you can just back out of. So I formulated the perfect plan, and dragged you into it. But I made a big mistake."

"What?" I asked, genuinely curious. His plan seemed to have worked out perfectly to me.

He stared with his empty black Zora eyes straight into mine. "I fell in love."

A warm, tingly feeling spread through my body, but at the same time my stomach twisted guiltily as I thought about my unheard words to Link. Before I could dwell on that too long, Nathan went on. "You were so different from the life I knew. You were vivacious, full of life and energy. In my world, that was like a warm spell in the middle of winter. It was refreshing and addictive; I couldn't get enough of it. This probably sounds corny, but I didn't realize how much I needed you until we were fighting."

The warmth inside me grew stronger with every word he spoke. He didn't stop even then. "I wasn't really angry about you keeping things personal... I was just afraid that you were becoming me. I look at you now, at the void in your voice, at your emotions running wild, and when I think about how you were when I first met you... I thought that was my fault. I'm sorry."

I stared at him, and I could feel the walls between us melting. Suddenly we were kissing, fiercely and desperately. I missed him. He missed me. It had only been a few days that we'd been fighting, but it had been far too long.

"I'd help you stop being royalty anytime," I said with a faint smile. Link was still in the back of my mind, but that seemed trivial to me in this moment. Finally, everything had settled down and me and Nathan could have a relationship like normal people.

In the morning, Nathan had a hearing with the Zora court, in which he failed with flying colours. Ruto was assigned to be the first Zora queen when she was old enough. I could hardly believe this. We were both free. He was free from the chains of unwanted power, and I was free from the misery of my old life.

In all ways but one. The image of a tiny Kokiri boy still nagged at me from the back of my head.


	13. What Happened On My Wedding Day

**Author's Note: After a short period of absence, I'm back again :) Thanks for all the great reviews, it makes me all warm and fuzzy reading them ^_^ Also, I would like to announce that I have a new one-shot in the works and will be posting it soon.**

Chapter Thirteen: What Happened On My Wedding Day

It's been seven years. Seven long, hard years. All the Zoras say that the time's gone by in a flash. I know better.

The first two years were the worst. Every morning of each of those years (that's right– 730 days) I would pack some food up and travel down to the Temple of Time, sitting there for hours just to see if Link would come back. I brought the food in case he was hungry. He never showed up, and I gave up after the second year.

The last five years were spent becoming a Zora. Or at least as close to one as I could get. King Zora insisted I was made as similar to a Zora as possible, so I wouldn't reveal their secrets. As if that made any sense.

It had been gruelling. I had been expected to weave my clothes with material to help me breathe underwater, with very little assistance from anyone. I was never a very good seamstress, and the materials bound together messily, so that I sometimes had to struggle to draw breath underwater.

Even worse was the swim training. Four hours a day I was forced to do laps around Lake Hylia. If I got hungry, I was allowed a catch a fish to eat. A _raw fish_. Disgusting. I really have nothing against fish, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was eating something related to my boyfriend. Of course, the other thing I got out of the training were these huge, gross muscles. I was the only human in the world to get muscles quite like that. Nobody knows muscles until they've tried to be a Zora.

In the last year of the past seven, King Zora finally deemed me "passable" as a Zora. And in a way, I was. I'd begun to adapt. My skin had become thicker, more rubbery. My body could twist in ways I never would have thought possible. The weirdest adaptation of mine were my feet. They'd grown long, and thinner, almost flipper-like. It creeped me out, but it was also kind of cool.

But enough of that. It's exactly seven years and three weeks to the day Link had vanished. Today was my wedding day.

I mentioned that eating raw fish reminded me of my boyfriend. The more proper term would be fiancé. Me and Nathan were supposed to be getting married today, but we were having a tiny problem with that. The problem being that Nathan wasn't actually there.

I peeked nervously out at the main area of Zora's Domain. I was standing behind the waterfall, in a hidden hollow which housed two torches and an open, empty treasure chest. Zora weddings are open, anyone who wants to come can, and I must have been more popular than I thought. Even the strangely stretched-looking Zora who ran the diving game was there.

Also among the crowd I could pick out Nathan's parents, Princess Ruto, and Nathan's estranged brother Mikau. They were shuffling impatiently in the water. Finally King Zora decided that a speech was in order. He addressed the crowd and began rumbling about inter-species relations, and I took that moment to slip into the water and quietly swim away.

I noiselessly reached the other side of the enormous room. I slipped out of the water and traversed the ramp until I reached the shop Nathan still manned.

Poking my head inside, I saw Nathan with his back to the doorway in a hand-tailored Zora suit. At least he'd started out with the idea of getting to our wedding. "Nathan," I hissed, annoyed, "What _are_ you doing?"

His necked jerked around so fast he must have sprained it. Rubbing his neck, he saw me and his eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, Emmeline, this is ludicrous behavior on my part. I should be there. But..." he cast a nervous glance at an object in the corner of the room.

I stared at the thing. It was a rubbery-looking sphere. "You've been missing our wedding because somebody dropped a sponge? Are you completely mental?"

Despite my sponge comment, Nathan looked very unnerved. "It kind of seems like it's moving."

There was no arguing with that, it did. But it was tiny, what could it possibly do? "Oh, for the love of Din," I muttered, kneeling down and intending to dispose of the... whatever it was. However, when I reached for it, it bounced high and out of my reach. "What..?"

The 'sponge' bounced out of the shop and down the ramp. Me and Nathan chased after it. We didn't want to let it cause a disturbance, but that seemed inevitable. The thing bounced into the water and landed with a slight splash. The entire wedding audience turned to stare at it. It hardly moved.

"Will someone please dispose of this unsightly creature?" King Zora demanded irritably.

Mikau stood in some shallow water. "With pleasure, sir," he grinned as he charged up a special fin-boomerang attack that most Zoras from Termina learn to use. When he released the fins, a wall of water rose up to meet them.

The wedding guests took a collective breath. Nathan, like the wimp he really was under his tough exterior, grabbed my hand and squeaked. There followed a second's silence, and then the water started to swirl.

The water swirled in huge circles around the creature. I looked at Nathan. He gritted his teeth. "Emmeline, I have no idea what's going on, but I want you to go to the cavern behind the waterfall. Hide in the empty treasure chest until I come get you. I'm going to grab a couple of fairies from the shop."

I gazed uneasily at the waterfall. I would have to swim across that swirling, possessed water. I winced as I put one foot into the water, it was now biting cold. I swam as quickly as I could, and had almost reached my hiding place when I got the funny sensation that I was being gripped round the middle. I looked around, scared witless, and paled at the sight. The sponge creature was controlling the water, and the water was forming into several watery tentacle shapes. These tentacles were grabbing Zoras and shaking them violently , their heads lolling about sickeningly like rag dolls, and then throwing them down unconscious into the water.

I screamed as the tentacle tossed me in the air. It caught me and shook me around and around, but I managed not to pass out. The creature slammed me down in the water, and I quickly swam behind the waterfall and climbed into the treasure chest, closing the lid almost all the way.

I peered through the tiny crack I'd left open and whimpered. Ice was now creeping across the surface of the water. All the unconscious Zoras were being forced under the sheet of ice, stuck there. _I hope none of those are Nathan..._

Before long, the entire lake area was frozen over and the sponge creature was sliding all over the ice, toward my waterfall hideout. I crouched down. I had no idea if this thing could see or sense or what, but I wanted to be careful. I watched fearfully as the thing seemed to almost swell. Could it see me?

I sighed with relief as the creature zoomed away from me across the ice. I decided to go out and try to break the ice so the Zoras could escape. Then my heart stopped.

A layer of ice was rapidly spreading over the waterfall.


	14. A Link To The Past

**Author's Note: I feel the need to explain myself. I know that a lot of the time I have some long periods between updates, and here is the reason: What I do is I write my stories down in a notebook first, and then I type them up. Which can take me awhile, but my ideas flow better that way :) Between that, and school, and trying to beat Twilight Princess, and my tons of math homework, it can take me a long time to update. Come summer, my updates will be a lot quicker :)**

Chapter Fourteen: A Link To The Past

"Excuse me, miss, are you alright?" Someone was forcing a bottle into my stiff fingers. _What's going on?_ The last I could remember, I was trapped inside a frozen waterfall, trying to chip my way out with a burnt-out torch. Maybe it had been a nightmare, and Nathan was waking me up with a green potion. Though he didn't normally stock it, he kept some special for me because it always gave me that zappy feeling. Nathan wouldn't call me 'miss' though, and in any case this voice was different altogether.

I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I was lying in a soft, grassy meadow which looked familiar but I couldn't place it. I tried to sit up, but someone put a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, you've been through a rough time."

I followed the path from the hand to the face it belonged to. This face was completely unfamiliar to me. Blonde hair spilled out from under a strangely familiar hat, and cascaded over the pointed ears and deep blue eyes of a young Hylian. He appeared to be about 19, and wore a deep red tunic.

I regarded him suspiciously. "Why are you wearing a Goron tunic?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Just got out of a live volcano."

I then remembered I was holding a bottle. I looked inside it to see red liquid. A potion! I gulped it down, grateful for the tangy, refreshing taste. "Where are we?"

"The Sacred Forest Meadow. I would have thought you'd have recognized it."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't assume. Besides, the only place I've been outside of Zora's Domain for the last five years has been Lake Hylia. My memories of Hyrule are a bit fuzzy. Why are we here, anyway?"

"I came to Zora's Domain and heard thumping from behind the waterfall. After I'd been watching for a while, you slipped out and tossed a torch out at me and passed out cold. You were blue all over. I thought I should probably get you someplace warm, but I didn't want you to suffocate in Death Mountain crater."

I stretched and sat up, surprised when tiny ice crystals fell from my clothes. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to just take me out of Zora's Domain and put me in the grass instead of dragging me all over Hyrule?"

The Hylian boy fingered a blue ocarina. "I've gotten used to warping."

I fixed him with a probing eye, hoping he would explain more fully, but he seemed distracted and oblivious. Instead of paying attention, he stared off into the distance, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. When he did that, a picture flashed through my head, but it was gone before I made any sense of it.

The boy (or man, I suppose) at that moment became alert again. "Do you have any idea what's going on in the world?"

"I _told_ you, I haven't been out of–"

He interrupted me, as if he didn't care what I'd been about to say. "Monsters attacked the Kokiri and invaded their temple. An ancient dragon was revived in the Goron's temple and almost devoured their tribe. What do you think is happening to the Zoras?"

I clapped a hand over my mouth. "The water tem–"

I was once again interrupted. This guy was really starting to annoy me. "Emmeline, do you know who I am?"

"No, but I'd like to know how you know who I am!"

The man squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Emmeline, I need you to take my hand."

I was feeling more than a little paranoid at this point, but something made me agree. As soon as my fingers touched his skin, my whole arm erupted into goose bumps. My mind couldn't explain to me why I was having this reaction. As I tried to sort myself out, the Hylian lifted his ocarina and played a cheerful, uplifting tune.

I had the sensation that I was being lifted up by my waist, the exact same way the monster in Zora's Domain had picked me up. I felt like I was flying for a moment before my feet landed on solid ground. I guessed that this was what the Hylian meant by warping. "The Temple of Time? Why are we here?"

The Hylian sighed impatiently. "Are you connecting _anything_?"

I frowned at him, annoyed. "No." When I said that, he ran his fingers through his hair again, clearly irritated. The scene I'd pictured earlier went through my mind again, and this time it stuck. Two sweaty people, a Hylian who was me, and a Zora, were arguing. A short blonde Kokiri boy ran his fingers through his hair as we bickered.

"_Link_!!!" I cried. "You're alive! And you're okay! And you're tall!" I pulled him into the tightest hug I could muster. Then I let go and inspected him. "You're not a Kokiri after all, are you?"

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he laughed. "I don't think so. Turns out I'm a Hylian after all. Long story."

I was so excited, I was bouncing off the walls. "I was so worried when you disappeared! I came down here every day for _two_ _years_ just to see if you'd come back!"

Link turned serious again. "Which brings me to something I need to talk to you about. What you said to me as I pulled the Master Sword out of the pedestal."

I thought back. Then I felt the blood rush into my face, which was growing steadily hotter. "You... you heard that?" He nodded, looking so awkward that I started to feel bad for _him_. "I... I... look. Yesterday, or today, or whatever day it was before I fell unconscious, that was my wedding day."

"Not to that Zora?" Link asked, looking almost angry.

"Yes to that Zora. It's been seven years, my feelings weren't going to wait forever. How was I to know you would come back? I'm older now, I'm engaged... if I start liking you again I'll be one step closer to becoming my mother."

"I'm not angry because it wasn't me there at the altar with you! I'm angry because that Zora is bad for you, and you know that!"

"That's a horrible thing to say! I love him, and if that bothers you, go get your precious _Zelda_ to confide in!"

We glared defiantly at each other until Link looked away. "I can't... she's gone."

"She's dead?"

"No, just gone. I've been gone for seven years, and no one's heard from her at all since she fled from the castle. I wish I hadn't pulled on that blade, the world's gone to pieces since then." A deep sorrow filled his face. I'd never seen anybody look so utterly helpless.

I stood in silence. Everything Link had said to me so far washed over me. Hyrule was in ruins, and I hadn't even known until now. Maybe he was right, maybe Nathan was bad for me.

"Link, is there anything I can do?"

He stopped looking miserable and instead got a look of driven determination. "Yes. Get some warm clothes and come with me back to Zora's Domain.


	15. Ice and Fire

Chapter Fifteen: Ice and Fire

I was wearing a thick, Wolfos-fur coat, but I was still shivering. My hair felt stiff. "Link, how do I look?" I asked, feeling self-conscious.

"You look... lovely," he said with a smile. We were in Zora's Fountain, staring at the area where Lord Jabu-Jabu swam before he'd passed away a few months ago. Now there was just a big icy hill. "Come," Link commanded, steering me up the slippery ramp. "I think the monster that froze over Zora's Domain may be in there. We need to cross those ice floes," he explained, gesturing first to a cavern in the wall that rose high above the water, and then to the huge circles of ice in the water.

I stared worriedly down at the water. "Is this _safe_?"

Link laughed again. It was a lovely sound. "Seven years ago, you got eaten by a whale, and you're scared of jumping on a bit of ice?"

"Yeah, well, that wasn't willing," I pointed out grumpily.

Link flashed me an innocent smile and gave me a great shove. I shrieked and grabbed the front of his tunic, with the end result of the both of us tumbling off the overhang and landing hard on the ice below.

Link curled up. "Ow," he groaned.

"Not so tough after all, are you, Mr. Hero?" I teased with a grin. He glared back, but in a playful way. "Oooh, you're scary," I said, sticking my tongue out in a very immature way.

Link stood up and brushed snow off his tunic. I began to feel concerned. "I really think you should be wearing something warmer. I know that's heat-resistant, but think about what the cold will do to you in that."

He frowned down at his tunic. "I guess you're right. But I don't exactly have anything cold-resistant." He considered that for a moment. "I suppose I can change into my Kokiri tunic. That'll be a little warmer, at least."

I turned away while he changed and then we started hopping across the ice. Every so often we had to stop so Link could defeat a few Octorocks (which were quickly becoming my least favourite Hylian creature). After a short time we had to make a long jump and we just barely made it to the mouth of the cavern.

I pulled myself into the entrance and looked around. We were in a long, icy hallway. I frowned. It was really hard to walk in there. The floor was slippery, and the falling icicles were a little bit distracting. The hallway led to a large, open room filled with moving chunks of ice and a spiked object spinning in fast little circles.

"Link," I said with huge eyes, "this place is in our legends."

"What legends?"

"I mean the Zora legends. We had a story... our ancestors supposedly created a 'glittering palace' near what they called the 'Lord of Whales.' It's been speculated that it was built in case of a sudden attack. It was built large enough to house thousands of Zoras, and they hid a treasure in here to negotiate with the attackers."

There was more, but I waited to see if Link was believing me. He looked very serious so far, so I continued. "There was once a poem told to us from Zora storytellers who travelled to Hyrule from another part of the world. It sounded like it was linked to our own legend.

'Feet of metal from a wintry cavern

Gills of fish from ruler of the sea

The hero exempted from the restrictions of clocks

Will slay the beast in water's depths.'"

Link contemplated this. "Feet of metal? Gills of fish? Who is exempted from the restrictions of clocks? Do any cultures have straightforward myths?"

"Are you really taking this seriously?" I asked, pleased.

"Absolutely. So far in my travels I've heard about a dozen different legends, and they've all turned out to be true."

Our conversation was cut short when one of the moving chunks of ice turned out to be alive, and blasted an icy wind at Link, which froze him solid. Navi flitted around him, positively screaming. I swatted at her, which just made her angry. Note to self: Fairies think they're really different from mosquitos, even though they're just as annoying.

After a bit of struggling Link shattered the ice around him. Navi flew to his side and buzzed in his ear. He turned to me with a stony face. "Navi seems to think you've been treating her with disrespect, as if she were a common housefly."

Navi threw her wings back and pulsed pink light. "I don't think I approve of your _friend_, Link, you and I have known each other for years! And then this– this _girl_ comes along _hitting_ me! As if I _deserve_ that kind of treatment!" The corners of Link's mouth were twitching, and now I could tell he was actually fighting to keep a straight face.

When he could control himself, he spoke quickly with a small laugh slipping out at the end. "Well, yes, let's get a move on, shall we?"

We wandered through the cavern, stepping into rooms. We eventually found a map and compass, but they'd been frozen in some strange red ice. We'd have to melt them out with some weird blue flames we'd found burning naturally. And everything was surrounding by those ice-blowing monsters or ice Keese.

"Some sanctuary," Link grunted as he swung hard at a Keese winging his way. "The Zoras built this to protect themselves from a war and they filled it with monsters? Isn't there a bit of a hole in that logic?"

My cheeks turned pink with anger. I didn't like my culture being insulted, especially in such an ignorant way. "They're _obviously_ here to protect the treasure. They'd probably leave a Zora alone. And don't give me that look, you know full well I'm a Hylian, they can't sense honourary Zoras."

Link was too tired to argue. This place was taking a lot out of the both of us, and it didn't help that it was freezing in there. After hours of wandering, we reached a room with three small coves and a large block. One held a silver rupee in red ice, one held a natural flow of blue flame, and the other held a passage. It was, in the simplest way, a puzzle.

"Finally something I can deal with," Link muttered. I figured it had to be harder than that, the Zoras aren't stupid, but I didn't say anything. Link hopped off the ledge and began to push at the block. But both of us shouted in frustration as the block slid all the way across the ice. "Lovely," Link growled, "just lovely."

We worked together, and although I got knocked into the pools of water in the corners several times, we made it through. When we'd stopped at the blue flame, Link had filled all three of his bottles and I filled the ones I kept on me for catching fresh fish for Nathan. Link said we'd probably need a lot to thaw out Zora's Domain.

We finally pushed the block in front of the cove with the passage, and we gave half-hearted cheers. We were to exhausted for further celebration. He helped me up and then got in himself. We continued down the hallway, using a little blue fire along the way. I stood in front of the door, consulting the worn map. "This is the final room, Link. The treasure's probably in here, along with something tough guarding it. Are you okay to fight?"

He looked reproachful for a moment, but then got his classic look of determination. He slid the door open. Inside was an amazing room. The walls shone with beautiful colours and patterns, and there was a large treasure chest near the other end of the room.

Link started toward the chest and a Snow Wolfos erupted from the ground. That was easily taken care of, though, and Link proceeded to open the chest. He bent down, and after a good tug, he heaved out a pair of boots with thick iron soles. We stared at them. "Huh. Iron boots. How... useful," I sighed. This was such a waste of time.

"Emmeline!" I looked at Link, and his eyes were shining with excitement. "What was the line in that poem? 'Feet of metal from a wintry cavern?' These are _iron_ boots!" I absorbed this, and we both became very excited. The excitement faded when I heard soft footsteps behind me.


	16. Completing the Prophecy

**Author's note: A few chapters ago, I said I was going to have a new one-shot up soon. About that... well, I kind of forgot... and now it's kind of lying in a notebook under my bed with a paragraph finished, so that won't be around anytime soon :)**

Chapter Sixteen: Completing the Prophecy

I spun around so fast I nearly tripped on the ice. Behind me stood a tall Sheikah, dressed in a very strange outfit. His hair was reminiscent of Link's. I stepped backwards, but Link put a hand on my shoulder. "It's alright," he told me. "This is Sheik. He's an... acquaintance of mine."

Sheik might have smiled, it was hard to tell when out of his whole face you could only see one eye. He basically talked about the monster that had frozen Zora's Domain and then recited some poetry at us. I felt like my head was spinning as Sheik took out a harp-like instrument and taught Link a song for his ocarina which he called the Serenade of Water. After that, he threw a deku nut down and disappeared in the flash.

"That was weird," I said conversationally. Link was inspecting the room.

"Yeah, he does that. This map says the room links to the first room we entered, which would be useful, but I can't find any door or passage or anything."

I decided to help him search. I first felt around at all the walls. Everything was smooth; there were no hidden doors, nor any bombable areas. I turned to tell Link this, but both my feet slipped and I ended up in a pool of water. "Link! Behind the chest! I think there's a passage here!"

Link hurried over and looked down into the water. "I think you're right. I guess it's time to try these out." He removed his Kokiri boots and pulled on the iron boots. He tried to walk, but he had to struggle. "These are going to be a pain," he muttered. "I can hardly move. There's no way I can use these all the time." After a little more struggle, he finally managed to heave himself over to the tunnel and drop in after taking a deep breath. At the bottom there was a short tunnel. He clomped through and I swam behind him. We emerged into the very first room.

"Excellent," I smiled. I was really sick of this place. We exited to Zora's Fountain and headed back into the throne room, where King Zora sat frozen in a block of red ice. Me and Link giggled at the sight before emptying some blue fire onto him.

When the water fell away from his face, he gasped and blinked several times. "I'm sorry Emmeline! I only ran up here for a second to get away from the monster! Did I miss the wedding?"

I grinned at Link, who shrugged in response. I told King Zora what had happened, and he was so grateful to Link, who shrugged in response. I told King Zora what had happened, and he was so grateful to Link that he presented him with a brand-new Zora tunic. Link turned to me wide-eyed. "Gills of fish from ruler of the sea!"

"Yes, Link, but there's no time for that now. We have to save the Zoras." I rushed down the stairs five at a time and jumped onto the ice as soon as it was visible. I uncorked a bottle and tossed all the blue flames onto the ice, watching excitedly.

Nothing happened. My heart stopped. I opened another bottle and emptied it. Still, nothing. I stared at the blue flames dancing eerily across the ice, and then I burst into tears.

Link was lost for words. He hugged me, and I cried into his shoulders. "Nathan..." I sobbed. Link just held me and rubbed my back. Which I suppose was more helpful than trying to make me feel better.

When my eyes were finally all dry, Link helped me up. "Maybe we should take a look at the shop. Just in case."

I miserably agreed. I knew he was trying to be nice, and that was irritating me. Why get my hopes up? We travelled at a snail's pace, and we reached the shop. If my heart had stopped before, now it was beating like it was about to explode. The door was smoothed over by red ice.

"Link," I breathed. "Maybe this only works on red ice..." I emptied yet another bottle, and it ate away at the ice.

Nathan emerged quickly, looking like he was seeing a ghost. He stared at me, and he had bags under his eyes. "Emmeline..?" He rasped.

I wrapped my arms around him. His skin was half-frozen. Ice was one of the worst things that you could do to a Zora. "Nathan, are you okay?" He didn't answer, he just shivered.

"Link, we need to get him to Lake Hylia. There's a man there that knows how to take care of Zoras. Right away."

"Of course." He picked up his ocarina.

"This is _not_ the time for music!"

Link ignored me and played the song that Sheik had taught him. I was jerked up and next thing I knew I was standing on a large natural pillar in the middle of Lake Hylia. "Okay, I apologize. Maybe it's always time for music." Nathan let out a small moan at my side. "It's probably quicker if I just swim him over. Meet you there."

Link starting to walk down the bridge and I propped Nathan up. "Just hold on to my shoulders if you can," I told him. He nodded weakly and grabbed my shoulders. I dove into the lake and swam powerfully to shore.

Minutes later, Nathan was sitting in a chair in Lake Hylia's science lab, wrapped up in a thick blanket and sipping a gross-looking black potion the scientist had made up for him. He seemed to be recovering quickly, and now he was staring at Link. "Where did you come from all of a sudden?"

Link quickly looked up from the pool he was staring down at. The lab had a deep basin full of water, which I'm guessing was for research. "Assuming Em told–"

"_Emmeline,_" I interrupted.

Link sighed. "Fine. Assuming _Emmeline_ told you about how I disappeared in the Temple of Time," Nathan nodded and Link continued, "When I pulled out the Master Sword, I was transported seven years forward in time. So to me, it was like I never left, apart from the havoc wreaked across the land. But to everyone else, it was as if I'd disappeared for the last seven years. Most people I knew well as a child didn't even recognize me."

He cast a dark look at the water pool. Shortly after this he spun around so fast he had to do it twice because he overshot his mark. "_The hero exempted from the restrictions of clocks!_"

This worked through my mind. "The beast in water's depths! Link, you're going to save the water temple and the Zoras!"

Nathan was trying to hide it, but we'd been together for seven years, and I could tell he was extremely confused. "How do you know there's a monster in the water temple? We Zoras have worshipped that place for years, guarding the treasures, and we've never seen a monster."

Link hesitated at that. "I don't actually know. This is what I've been told. But every spiritual temple I've come across so far has had some monster terrifying the culture that created it. So I'm guessing whatever froze over Zora's Domain is somewhere deep in there."

Nathan nodded while sipping potion. "There is a pretty tricky room in there. I can give you a little bit of information on how to get there, but it will be difficult. You might need the treasure guarded in the room of illusion as well, I can help with that too. There should be a guard in there, but I maybe you can take him."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

I sat and listened to the two of them go back and forth. When the conversation finally seemed to be winding down, I spoke. "Link, I'm coming with you. I want to help."

To my surprise, when I said this, Nathan shot Link a very nasty look. It was the angriest I think I'd ever seen him. "No," Link said. "Emmeline, you can't come."

"Why not? I'm not scared!" I clenched my fists. "Whatever did this to my people, I want it _dead_!"

Link patted my arm sympathetically. My skin tingled. "I know, but I can handle it. Your boyfriend has just had a near-death experience. You need to spend time with him. It's more important." He had a strained voice as he said those last words.


	17. Forgotten Friendship

**Author's Note: Yes, it's been a while, but forgive me, it's summer, and I've been on vacation :) But I should be back on track pretty soon. AND yes, I can feel it, we are nearing the end :-o**

Chapter Seventeen: Forgotten Friendship

I woke up furious. It had been weeks since Link had bid me adieu and entered our magnificent temple. He had promised to contact me when he'd dealt with the temple, and he hadn't. And since the entire Zora race minus four were still frozen, I had to assume he hadn't done it. I was angry.

I stormed out of the back room of the shop where I slept and shoved roughly past Nathan. He said something annoyed, but I ignored him. I stomped down to the waterfall entrance of Zora's Domain and walked straight into Link. Finally I could lose my temper. "WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN _DOING_?!"

He looked taken aback. "I would have come by sooner but Kakariko Village was on fire and Sheik–"

"SO ONE TINY LITTLE FIRE THAT COULD EASILY BE PUT OUT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SAVING AN ENTIRE RACE? SOME HERO YOU ARE!"

"They're still frozen?"

"DID YOU THINK THEY WOULD THAW OUT ON THEIR OWN ACCORD? I'VE BEEN WAITING HERE, WORRIED OUT OF MY MIND FOR WEEKS!"

"Shut up!" Link commanded sharply. I opened my mouth, enraged, but he spoke over me. "I killed the monster. I think that the land's just too evil right now... I've done my part, now I need your help."

When what he'd said sank in, I wasn't sure whether to be upset or embarrassed. "So the Zoras are lost... forever?"

"No, I don't think so. But there are other things to think about right now. The people of Kakariko were being terrorized by a phantom in their Shadow Temple, so I had to go there. And now... I need your help. I want to talk to the Gerudo, because I need a seventh temple for reasons I can't explain, and I figured you could assist me there."

I remembered my Gerudo training, way back in my early teens. The Gerudo were smart, they would be able to remember me. Then again, they were quite the proud culture. "I don't think that having me there will help you sweet talk the guards."

"Sure. They'll see you're safe with me, and they'll respect you for having been one of their trainees, and they'll trust me then."

I laughed. "The only way that would work would be if my mother showed up. She's second-in-command in the Gerudo hierarchy, so that's very unlikely to happen seeing as she has better things to do."

Link refused to see it my way, and insisted upon dragging me along. I said goodbye to Nathan and we headed out. "Wait," he said as we jumped out the waterfall, "maybe we could get some advice on them from those old friends of yours."

"Who?"

He struggled to remember a name. "The, um, what is it... the Van der Heydens, that's it!"

"Link, I haven't talked to them for seven years!"

"Well I have on occasion. It seems for every ten Golden Skulltulas that are killed, one family member has the curse broken on them. Except for the father, there's a bit of a fluke in the curse there."

"Fine, we can go see them. But quickly, this is probably going to be awkward."

We set off the Kakariko Village. It was a lot more crowded than I remembered. Link explained that Castle Town had been attacked, and everyone had fled to Kakariko. Little else had changed. We entered the House of Skulltula, which was now quite crumbled and cobwebby. But I was pleased to see all four children in the house without spindly appendages.

Susannah was the first to notice us. It was hard to tell because she looked so much like her brothers, but I could tell the moment she screamed "LINK!" and ran over to him. Wolfgang, Luther and Jacob heard her and all flocked toward him. I felt a little put out by this. "What's so great about you?"

He chuckled. "I only returned them to their true forms, that's all,"

"Hey," I called quietly, addressing the Van der Heyden children. "I know we haven't talked in a while, but..." I trailed off. The four of them were staring at me as if I was wearing a Like Like as a hat. "What?"

"Who are you?" Wolfgang asked pointedly. The others looked wary.

I stammered. "D-don't you remember me?"

They all shook their heads. I gaped. I had become completely speechless. I turned away and curled up in a corner. Link seemed to ignore me as he talked to the children.

I felt depressed. My oldest friends had forgotten me. I had known them since I was a small child. True, I hadn't been a great friend, shut in Zora's Domain, but I hadn't forgotten them! I was wrapped up in my angry/miserable thoughts when Wolfgang crouched down beside me.

"Am I supposed to know you?" He asked. Short and to the point.

"Yes," I replied with a heavy sigh. When I said this, he searched my face carefully with studious eyes. Then his face broke into a smile. "Emmeline."

"Yes." I smiled as he pulled me into a long hug. "I'm sorry I haven't been around, I've been in training, don't even ask about that!" We babbled at each other in that sort of manner for a while until I noticed something. "Where are Lucifer and Emily?"

Wolfgang cast his eyes downward. "My father is in the rafters. He's quite miserable. My mother recovered. She was so happy for a period of time. But... when she realized my father wasn't recovering, she fled."

I started to say something sympathetic, but then I felt a spark of anger. "Well, he got what was coming for him, didn't he? It's his fault my mother left, and so Emily's left now, and why should I care?"

Wolfgang stood up. "Get out!"

"What?"

"Get out!"

"Why?!"

"JUST GET OUT!"

"Fine." I stood up and marched out. Link followed, shooting an extremely nasty look at Wolfgang as he left. "Link, don't make it worse."

"I don't like him," Link said darkly. "He's so rude to you."

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself. Let's just go."

And so we left. The bridge to Gerudo Valley was broken, and in the end I had to hold Link's waist as he grappled across the gap using his longshot and climbed up. He then pulled me up and we snuck into the Gerudo's Hideout.

We'd almost gotten in when I felt a sharp blade poke me in the back.


	18. Storms

**Author's Note: I have it all written out now. There will be exactly 21 chapters total, the last being fairly short as it is an epilogue, and I know how it ends as well so hopefully there will be no unfinished ideas like there are in a few other chapters. Cheers :)**

Chapter Eighteen: Storms

I sat in a comfy chair, sipping a hot soup the Gerudo had been cooking, "I don't see why you have to put him through all this."

"I just want to see if he can do it," said Perla, who was third-in-command of the Gerudo hierarchy. I giggled when she said this. Link was running about trying to avoid Gerudo guards and free some gormless carpenters, even though Perla had said she'd trusted him the moment I told her the story of why we were here. Now he was running around while I sat comfortably here. It was kind of funny, actually.

"Hey," Perla said suddenly. "I want you to do something. Dress up as a Gerudo and give him the membership card when he frees the last carpenter. He'll be so surprised."

I blushed. "There's no way I can pull that off."

She smiled and pulled my hair into a tight ponytail. "You're a natural. Look at all that gorgeous red hair. And remember who your mother is! Besides, didn't you train here for a while?"

"Yes, but–"

She pulled me off the chair. "Just get dressed and get up on the ceiling."

Barely ten minutes later, I was hanging upside down near a high security cell, next to a young Gerudo trainee that I didn't know by name. When Link meandered in, she winked at me. "I'll go easy on him," she promised as she dropped down and ensued in a short battle, which she purposefully lost. She leapt back up and winked at me again before skulking off into shadows.

I dropped and waited as Link spoke with the carpenter he'd 'freed.' He looked shocked as I told him how impressed I was and gave him the Gerudo membership card (trying not to laugh the whole time).

"Right," Link said, clearing his throat, "I should, uh, go."

My slow-spreading smile faded. "Why?"

"There's a girl that was captured along with me, and I need to rescue her."

Now I was frowning. "Link, I'M Emmeline, and I can assure you that I'm not that helpless."

His eyes popped. "_Oh_! Sorry! I didn't– you just looked so–" a deep flush started in his neck and quickly spread over his face.

"That's okay. We should get going." We asked the Gerudo at the gates to the Haunted Wasteland to open them, and we headed through. I was greeted by an eyeful of sand.

"Ow!" I swiped at my eyes. "How can there possibly be a beautiful sky an inch away from this sandstorm?"

Link was too busy spitting wads of mud out of his mouth to answer. He waved me over to a sign so I could read it. The sign proclaimed that we were about to cross the 'river of sand' and apparently we couldn't walk across it. I squinted ahead to see a pit of sand that seemed to almost be crawling ominously.

We walked to the edge of this pit. I recognized it immediately. "Quicksand."

Link stared at it warily. I tried again to look into the distance. "Link, look, boxes!" I pointed.

His eyebrows contracted. "Yes..?"

"Your longshot, silly!" I reminded him. He nodded and pulled it out. I grabbed him and he grappled across the quicksand.

The next task we were expected to do (according to the Gerudo watch person) was following some sort of Poe. But before we got to that, we noticed a man floating on a carpet. We thought of asking him for directions, but he was floating over a nasty looking hole in the ground. Link for some reason seemed pleased. "Great," he exclaimed, "I wanted to show you these!" He pulled out a pair of winged boots and shoved them on his feet. "Look at what these puppies can do."

He ran at the carpet and when he got over the hole he just kept running until he landed on the carpet. He smiled back at me before engaging the carpet man in conversation.

He came back, looking thoroughly annoyed. "He didn't know where to go, but he said he'd sell me something really cool and useful. I just paid 200 rupees for _bombchu_."

Normally I would have made fun of him, but I was afraid that I'd get sand in my mouth. We trekked for a while and came to a small stone hut. It was empty. Strange. We climbed on top of it and found a plaque. "Aha," he said. He scrabbled around and produced a large purple magnifying glass with the Sheikah emblem on it. "The Lens of Truth," he explained.

He looked through it, seemed excited, and passed it to me. I peered through and was shocked to see a giant Poe in front of us. I was surprised again when it starting floating away. "Let's follow it!"

We trailed behind it as it led us in annoying circles. Leevers popped out of the ground and chased us, bowling me over more than once. When we finally reached the Desert Colossus, which was in the eye of the storm, Link turned to me rather violently. "What kind of _psycho_ builds a temple in the middle of a year-round sandstorm?"

I replied calmly. "So you can have temples filled with blades that could slice people in half, temples underwater, and temples in live volcanoes, but a sandstorm is weird?"

We continued to walk until we reached the colossal temple. Link looked at it distastefully. "What's with the gigantic sand person?"

I looked at him sharply. "_Obviously_ it's the goddess that the Gerudo worship. They didn't come from Hyrule, and the Triforce story doesn't really exist elsewhere. Even if it did, you know the Gerudo, they're not likely to support a goody two-shoes religion like that. The temple isn't even really safe at all unless you know the secrets."

"Well, it can't be as dangerous as some of the other places I've visited."

I remembered visiting the temple as a child. "I can guarantee you won't enjoy it."

We approached the entrance and went inside. I quickly ducked from memory, but Link not being aware was caught full on in the face by a flying pot. "Whoops," I grinned.

He climbed the stairs, gingerly avoiding two Armos statues. He looked to the left, and saw a tunnel which he could not fit in. He looked to the right, and saw a huge block which was certainly too heavy to push. He came back down, looking upset. "Any more secret passageways around here?"

"Try reading the plaques," I suggested, leaning lazily on one. He sighed at me, but if he was going to drag me away from my boyfriend just so he could wreak havoc on all the temples of Hyrule, he'd have to put up with the consequences.

He read one. "If you want to proceed to the past, you should return here with the pure heart of a child." He scampered to the next. "If you want to travel to the future, you should return here with the power of silver from the past..." he ran his fingers through his hair. "So we need to get to the past, to get to the future?" He looked at me for confirmation.

I shrugged. "Could be. I didn't build it."

"Okay," he said determinedly. "You're about to experience time travel. Come on." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the temple. He was just lifting his ocarina when Sheik leapt from a tall stone arch and walked toward us. He addressed Link only. "Past, present, future... The Master Sword is a ship with which you can travel upstream and downstream through time's river... The port for that ship is in the Temple of Time..."

I was completely confused, and showed it, but Sheik entirely ignored me as he continued to speak only to Link. "To restore the Desert Colossus and enter the Spirit Temple, you must travel back through time's flow... Listen to this Requiem of Spirit... This melody will lead a child back to the desert." And Sheik taught Link another song before vanishing once more.

Link didn't bother to explain any of this, but simply pulled out his ocarina again. I grabbed his arm, and within seconds we were in front of the Master Sword's pedestal. "I'm not sure how well this will work," he fretted. "I guess I should just..." he wrapped one arm around my shoulders and with his other he thrust the Master Sword into its pedestal. The blue light was blinding, and then it was dark again. I looked down at the body of my fifteen-year-old self. "This is wild!" I grinned evilly. "Would I be able to bug Nathan?"

"No, I don't think so. It could be dangerous. Since you didn't travel forward in time with me, you would still be here. You might meet yourself."

"Okay, we might as well go, then."

He played the song Sheik had just taught him, and we warped to the outside of the Spirit Temple. We walked in, ducking to avoid the pots. This time, though, we weren't alone.

In front of the tunnel passage, a tall young Gerudo dressed in white was standing guard. I walked over to her, and she recognized me, and tried to stare me down.

"Hello, Emmeline," she greeted testily.

"Hello, mother."


	19. Abandonment

**Author's Note: Okay, I've only got two chapters left to go after this one's done, and I'm going to post them as soon as possible because I'm going on vacation soon, and I would hate to leave you all in suspense ;)**

Chapter Nineteen: Abandonment

"I'm Nabooru," my mother was explaining to Link. She was giving him some yarn about how her silver gauntlets were through the hole she was standing in front of, and he needed to go get them. He crawled through, gullible enough to help her, thief that she was.

"So," she said to me with a forced smile, "how has your life been since I... pursued other interests?"

"Weird. I'm really 22 right now."

She glared at me. "I know I haven't been around much, but I'm still your mother and you have no right to be disrespectful to me! And you would do to remember that I am also your Gerudo leader!"

"It's _true_." I said this so fiercely that she stepped back. "And besides, I'm technically not even a Gerudo."

"Fine, kid, I'll give you that."

"My name's not 'kid,' it's Emmeline."

"I know." Nabooru looked incredibly uncomfortable. Well, serves her right for leaving me motherless all these years. She scuffed her foot on the floor. "Er... how are the Van der Heydens?"

Typical. Not a word about how my father was doing, she just wanted to know how her precious _Lucifer_ was.

"They're fine." When I told her this, she looked down at the floor. "Emily is going to leave Lucifer."

"Really?" she asked, failing to keep an uninterested tone. "When?"

"In about seven years."

She looked at me sadly, but I was guessing that it was Gerudo trickery. "Please don't be sarcastic with me. I'm sorry I haven't been the best of parents, but I needed to go. I liked your father, but Lucifer was something else. When he got married, I had to do something else. My life was a wreck."

"Your life is a wreck?!" I shouted. "YOUR life is a wreck? Listen to MY life! Seven years ago (well, I suppose really a few days now) I ran away from home to live with the Zoras! I am engaged to a Zora! I thought I was doing okay, but then this Hylian boy comes along and makes me fall in love with him! Not only that, but on the day of my wedding, a monster attacked, and encased all my people in ice! And who comes along to save me, but this stupid Hylian who made me fall in love with him!"

Nabooru tried to make her face look motherly. "That must be hard, but don't worry, I'm sure he likes you–"

"It's not that I'm worried about! It's the fact that I'm turning out _exactly_ like you!"

I could have slapped her, and she'd have looked less shocked. I walked out of the temple. Link could deal with this on his own. I needed home. I managed to get back to Gerudo Valley, and I borrowed a horse from the archery range and rode back, jumping the river, until I reached the gates of castle town. That's when I realized that I couldn't get home.

I went into town and waited, sitting on the steps of the Temple of Time. When Link finally came back, he looked like he'd dealt with a great hardship, but I couldn't find the words to ask him why. We went to the Master Sword and he pulled it, and I was 22 and he was 19 again. He looked at me. "You look distraught," he told me wearily. "Go home."

I wanted to tell him to do the same thing, but instead I just did exactly as he said. If I thought I would get some peace there, I was sorely mistaken. I walked slowly into the Zora shop, just ready to fall into Nathan's arms. When I walked in, he looked up and quietly asked, "Him or me?"

I froze. "What?"

He looked pained. "Who are you going to choose? Me or Link?"

"I... I don't know what you're talking about."

He stared at me sadly. "You do. I didn't want to make you choose. You made me happier than I thought would be possible. But lately I've felt as if I don't do the same for you."

Tears sprang to my eyes. I wasn't ready for this. "Nathan, I love you!"

"I know. Or at least I knew. Now you're so distant. We hardly ever talk, except when you're telling me you're about to go gallivanting off with Link again. So I want to know who you're going to choose."

I couldn't think straight. Everything was a blur in this moment of anxiety. "Nathan, I can't choose. Sure, Link makes me happy and he shows me things I'd never have dreamed of, but I'm most myself around you. You've seen me at my worst, and you still loved me. I trust you more than I'd ever trust anyone." I realized that was a lie right after I said it, remembering Wolfgang, but the words were already out.

Nathan just looked disgusted now. "So you're going to play with us until one of us screws up and then you'll choose?"

"Fine. Fine. I'll choose." I looked around for a way to buy time, so I could think. I had nothing. "I choose Link," I said suddenly.

Nathan didn't even ask if I was sure. He just walked out. I felt horrible. Why did I answer? I pulled myself up on the counter. All I could think of was the carefree day me and him spent at Hyrule Castle Town, when we'd been silly and young and we'd had our first kiss. When had we fallen apart?

Before it felt like long, I found myself just waking up on the counter. The shop doorway had a rope across it and a 'closed' sign. Nathan must have done it while I was asleep. I went into the back room and peered out the window carved out of the cliff. The sun was positioned differently. Had I been asleep a few hours or a few days?

The sound of footsteps echoed through the room. "There's a closed sign on the door," I said dully. Who was trying to buy something here anyway? Almost all the Zoras were frozen.

"We need to talk." This was spoken in a tired voice of someone who needed a long rest. I slowly spun on my heels. I thought that when we parted ways at the Temple of Time, it would be for a long time. I broke out in a big smile when I saw the familiar messy blonde hair and floppy green hat.

"Link, I feel really terrible right now. Please don't drag me off on any exciting adventures."

He sat down on the bed that was in the corner of the room. "When I was in the Spirit Temple, when we went back in time, I heard you and Nabooru arguing."

I tilted my head slightly. "How did you hear that?"

"Well, you always have been kind of loud."

"Thanks."

Link shook his head. I wasn't quite sure what he was disagreeing with, but he began to speak. "I want to be serious about this, though. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you talking about your wreck of a life... and that stupid Hylian boy who made you fall in love with him."

I was mortified. I could feel a flush in my face. "If you must know, it wasn't you," I said in my most dignified voice, "It was, er, it was, uh... oh, forget it. Fine. Make fun of me if you must."

He had an odd look on his face. "I'm not going to make fun of you... I've felt the same way since the day we met."

"Yeah, right. So you're into girls who bad-mouth you every chance they get and would spend 200 rupees on an empty bottle?"

He grinned sheepishly. "No. But I liked the way you were dead set on having that jar, no matter what. You were focussed; you were fiery. That was what I liked. That and the fact that the first words you said to me were 'sorry little boy, I've got enough second-hand stuff already.'"

"I was a teenager! That's what we do!" I said defensively.

Link shrugged this off. "Either way, you had a spark. I waited to see you again, and I was happy I did. But soon you were snatched away by some tall, suave Zora and I decided to wait until we were both more mature to do something about it. You have no idea how it felt to have a seven-year gap in your life, and to then find out that the person you'd been waiting for got tired of waiting for you."

This made me feel very awkward. "I didn't know what had happened! I thought you'd sacrificed yourself or something! And for Nayru's sake, leave me alone about it, I just broke up with someone I've been in a relationship with for seven years."

"I'm not mad," he admitted. "I'm just very tired. And I have to go fighting again. Princess Zelda has been taken by Ganondorf."

This didn't mean much to me, as I didn't know her, but I could see it was bugging him. "Let me guess. You're going to rescue her, and planning on killing Ganondorf?"

"Yes. Just wait for me here. We can discuss our feeling when I get back."

"Promise me you will get back?"

He wouldn't look at me. He just picked up his ocarina, and began playing the song that would take him to the Temple of Time. I don't know what compelled me to do it, but when he started vanishing, I grabbed his wrist.


	20. Evil's End

**Author's Note: Okay... so my super great idea of updating as soon as possible didn't exactly work out, but this time I'm serious in saying that the chapter after this (last one!) Will be up either tomorrow or on Sunday.**

Chapter Twenty: Evil's End

Link paced the halls of the Temple of Time. "No. It's too dangerous."

"I'm coming," I repeated adamantly, as I'd been doing for a while now. I was getting frustrated. It was a hot day, and the temple was stifling. I think that was the only reason Link gave up in the end.

"Fine. You can come. But you absolutely _have_ to stop when I tell you to, and if I tell you to run, you _run_ and you don't wait for me, got it?"

"Yes," I huffed. He didn't smile at that like he normally would have. All the stress of constantly helping other people and risking his life and never doing anything for himself must finally have been getting to him. We crept along the ruined streets of Castle Town, careful not to let any ReDeads hear us. As we got closer to Ganondorf's castle, I noticed a shining rainbow bridge. "Ooh, pretty!"

Link still had no expression whatsoever as we entered the castle. We ran through a hallway containing two Beamos as guards. The next room was huge, with doors everywhere and a tower in the middle. We entered the tower. It seemed too easy. I guessed Link had already done something. We headed up through several stairways and rooms, including either two Dinalfos, two Stalfos, or two Iron Knuckles respectively. My feet began to ache horrendously and I wished I hadn't worn heels.

Then we reached a room which was full of pots and had a tall pillar in the middle. It was here that Link acknowledged me finally. "Wait here. Do not come up under any circumstances. No matter what you might hear." I listened curiously, and I could quite easily hear organ music floating down from the room above. Link turned as I listened and walked through another door.

Did I listen to him? Of course not. I waited patiently for several minutes, and then I followed him. There was yet another staircase. I had to rest halfway up, my feet were so sore. I was taking longer than I would have liked. By the time I reached the room that Link, Ganondorf and Zelda were in, Ganondorf was already halfway through his monologue. The strange thing was that I didn't even feel scared in the same room as him. I felt safe.

I stepped toward Ganondorf. I had no idea what I'd intended to say, but when I went to say it Ganondorf yelled, "These toys are too much for you! I command you to return them to me!" And he slammed his fist on the floor, which broke under me. I screamed as I fell. Link moved toward me, but it was far too late. I fell down, down, and hit the ground far below. I blinked hard and tried to remain conscious, but that always had been my weak point. The room around me faded.

It didn't fade into black, though. It faded into the dream I'd had over seven years ago, where I was surrounded by fire and a huge pig-like creature was advancing on me. But the small Kokiri boy I'd seen in the dream all that time ago had warped into a tall Hylian man. I braced my dream-self for whatever was going to happen. What happened was... somebody slapped my cheeks?

"Wake up, Emmeline, _please_ wake up," Link muttered urgently.

I sat up groggily and rubbed my stinging cheeks. "Couldn't you have found a less painful way of waking me up?"

"Listen, Emmeline, the castle just collapsed. Me and the princess carried you out. But when you didn't wake up, I thought... the fall..."

I looked around me at all the rubble. "I guess it's true when people tell me I wouldn't wake up even if a building collapsed on me."

There was an ominous noise coming from the biggest pile of debris. Link automatically stepped forward to investigate, and I automatically followed Link. I squinted as the rubble began to shift. From the pile, Ganondorf rose, panting. This time alarms sounded in my head. The Triforce on the back of his hand began to glow, and he morphed into the beast of my nightmare.

"Stay back!" Link barked. I turned to run away, but a wall of fire was behind me. Everywhere I looked, there was more fire. This couldn't be happening. I ran in every direction I could think of, but there was no break in the line of flames. The beast was advancing upon me.

And suddenly, Link was there. It was almost a beautiful sight. I couldn't describe why then, and I still can't. But there he stood, holding his long, shining sword and looking as angry as I thought was possible. It was all quite peaceful until the beast knocked his sword away.

A huge battle ensued that moment. Link unsheathed another longer sword, and the monster wildly swung his two enormous scimitars. A Gerudo in true form.

Link looked like he'd known what to do all along. He strung his bow with an arrow, and aimed it at the monster's face. He let it fly, and when it made contact, the tip exploded into light, The creature was stunned. Link scampered around it and slashed at its tail. Then it would awaken, spin around, and the whole thing would start over.

It was dangerous. It was scary. I think I gnawed all my fingernails off. Every swing of the monster's swords would have me fearing for Link's life. Even worse was when he was hit. The swords were so big that they didn't even cut him, but they would knock him down and take his breath away. Not only that, but every time it happened Zelda would let out this annoying gasping scream.

That scream came again. My eyes snapped up. Link was sprawled on the ground, out cold. _No_. The monster stood over him, scimitars raised. That's when I snapped.

I grabbed two good-sized pieces of debris. All my Gerudo training flowed back to me. I jumped to the monster and knocked away one sword, and rolled. I jumped and whacked its face with my bigger chunk of wreckage. It shook its face, slightly stunned. I seized the opportunity to run to his back and run right up his spine to his head. I hit his large nose over and over with my 'swords,' but it wasn't doing any good. The monstrous creature just shook his head over and over again. I nearly fell off.

I did the only thing I could think of. When I was a very young child, my father had told me that if I was ever attacked by a stranger, I should gouge his eyes. So I did that.

The beast squealed and shook his sword around. I was too small to hit. Finally, in his moment of weakness, I gave him a good hit with my detritus and he keeled over. He hit the ground with a huge rumble, which woke Link up. The shock waves from his fall also blew the flames out.

"Link! The Master Sword is here! Hurry up!" Zelda screamed. Link blinked around confusedly. He stood up shakily and meandered toward the Master Sword and pulled it out of the ground. Then he turned to the beast, sword in his hands.

The beast rose again as did the flames. The beast grabbed me and tossed me over the flames. There was nothing I could do now but watch the brute and Link trade blows. I stayed silent, the sword noises punctuated only by Zelda's gasps.

Link wound up for another slash at the beast's colourful tail. This time the sword really hit home. The beast screamed and fell down, dousing the flames once more. This time Zelda raised her hands and shot a ray of magic light at the beast. Link stepped deftly forward and stabbed it between the eyes. It gave one final shuddering breath, and was dead.

We walked away until we got to Castle Town. I turned toward Link. He was tired, and sweaty, his face was covered in dirt and his hair was full of bits of the castle, but he looked happy.

He held my hands and stared into my eyes. "It's finally over," he whispered and his face came closer to mine.


	21. Epilogue

**Author's Note: Okay, I actually came through on my promise that I'd update today! Last chapter from me, the master of cheesy love scenes :)**

_The Aftermath_

My face was about an inch from Link's when I realized we weren't quite in Castle Town anymore. In fact, I had no idea where we were. We seemed to be floating in the sky, but when I looked down there was no ground below us. Also, Zelda was staring at Link sadly. We jumped apart.

Zelda stared at the ground. She thanked Link for saving Hyrule, but still seemed very negative about it. She apologised to Link for dragging him into her silly plan to stop Ganondorf from entering the Sacred Realm, and then she looked straight at him. "Now it is time for me to make up for my mistakes... you must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time... however, by doing this, the road between times will be closed..."

She took a deep breath, and looked as if she was going to regret what she was about to say. "Link, give the ocarina to me. As a sage, I can return you to your original time with it. When peace returns to Hyrule, it is time for us to say good-bye. Now, go home, Link! Regain your lost time! Home... where you are supposed to be... the way you are supposed to be..."

"No way!" I shouted, breaking up the serene scene. Zelda and Link looked at me. "You're jealous! I don't _believe_ you! Just because you send him back in time doesn't mean you get to be all lovey-dovey! Don't forget that you're a princess, and you have to marry who you're expected to marry!"

"Emmeline!" Link snapped. "That was _way_ out of line! I'm not going to marry the princess, not now, and not then. I know how to make up my own mind. And she _said_ why she was sending me back!"

"I'm sorry," I admitted miserably. "But I don't want you to go."

He kissed me, quickly and unexpectedly. "I know. But maybe someday, maybe in another timeline, we can fall in love." He sounded so sweet that I almost cried. I didn't only because I didn't want him to feel guilty. "Please send her to the celebration before you send me back," he murmured to Zelda. Just like that, I was at Lon Lon Ranch, in the midst of a huge party. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be anywhere but here. I found a lonely corner and curled up there.

Someone cleared their throat. I looked up. It was Nathan, fins drooping. His face said everything I need to know. I stood up, hardly daring to believe it. "Where's Link?" he asked.

My eyes blurred, and I blinked away the tears, not wanting to cry. "He's... in the Temple of Time."

Nathan seemed to instantly understand. "When is he?"

"Seven years ago." I stared at him, and suddenly I wanted him again so badly. Falling for the Hero of Time was such a stupid idea. I could never be with someone like him. But Nathan, he was someone normal, someone I could be with, someone I needed. I stepped toward him unsteadily.

"Wait," he said, "I don't know if I can trust you anymore. The new you."

My hope drained. "Then why–"

He held up a hand to stop me. "I want our relationship back. But not now. Right now I just want to get to know you again."

I smiled at him as we walked toward the party together. "I would love that."

**THE END**


End file.
